


Hijinks on Infinite Earths

by SuperfriendlyFox



Series: Pig in a Blanket on the Bed [8]
Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, And New Relationship, Established Relationship, F/F, Good Parent Lillian Luthor, Multiverse, Parallel Universes, Some angst, SuperCorp x 2, kara and lena are in love and their doppelgängers are in love, sort of evil Lillian Luthor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-18
Updated: 2019-10-19
Packaged: 2020-10-21 09:53:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 33,942
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20691557
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SuperfriendlyFox/pseuds/SuperfriendlyFox
Summary: Lena and Kara’s doppelgängers grow closer, but Other Lena fears confessing she’s not the same Lena Other Kara initially went out with. Earth-38’s Lena searches the Multiverse for her doppelgänger, and intends to keep letting Other Lillian think she’s her daughter. Meanwhile, Jailbird Lillian has some plans of her own, which threaten to cause trouble in Kara and Lena’s relationship.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> My original plan had been to write Lena’s visit to the alternate Earth from the last fic as a one-off, and then to continue the series with her and Kara’s normal life. (If a superhero mom, Superkids, and nine pets can be considered normal.) But I really enjoyed writing Lena interacting with Other Kara—especially the newness of the relationship—and Other Lillian, and I wanted this time to include how Other Lena’s coping with the kids and the pets. (And with her huge secret.)

An ominous rumbling resounds over the skyscrapers of National City . . .

Supergirl’s tummy, demanding sustenance. It’s been _ hours _ since she last ate. Well, technically one hour and forty-nine minutes. Rounding up, that’s hours.

Balancing pizza boxes, potstickers, and her wife’s <strike>healthy</strike> boring and tasteless salad, she alights on L-Corp’s balcony, slides open the door and steps inside—

To find Lena and their baby mysteriously missing.

She’s not _ too _ worried? Yeah, they’d planned on having a quick lunch—as well as a ‘quickie,’ haha, seeing as how date night is still half a week away—promptly at one o’clock today. It’s not as if Lena would have forgotten. But it’s a bit too soon for Lex’s next gesture to show his sister he’s thinking of her (Lena likes to joke about these ‘quarterly assassination attempts,’ just to keep from crying). There’s no blood on the floor, nor any papers strewn about, so Supergirl figures either her wife’s last meeting has run over, or she’s gotten absorbed in a project.

Making her way to her wife’s desk—which is somehow both neat and orderly, yet piled with work—she sets down their food, then moves to the secret compartment in the wall that stores cardigans, slacks, stylish flats, and identical pairs of non-prescription eyeglasses. A split second later Supergirl transforms into Kara Danvers—so no one at L-Corp still not in the know (very few people) will discover her secret and have to sign an NDA for the DEO. Which wouldn’t be too terrible, actually. Except it would infuriate Pam in HR. (It doesn’t take much to infuriate Pam in HR.)

She opens the door and steps into the outer office.

“Kara.” Jess acknowledges her without even bothering to look over from her computer screen, nor to pause in her typing. Bella lies snuggled in her stroller by Jess’s desk, sleeping like a champ through the _clackety-clack._

“Hey, Jess. I’m here to meet Lena for lunch—” Jess _does_ look over now, and Kara suddenly realizes she’s left all the food inside the office. “I mean, a _real_ lunch, not a—that is, uh, what else would I come for at lunchtime?” She feels herself flush, as she and her wife have always done their best to at least _appear_ professional at the office. “I, um, forgot the food on her desk.”

“What else would you come here for at lunchtime, indeed?” A small smile plays on Jess’s lips, then vanishes as she turns back to her screen, and her typing. “Mrs. Luthor-Danvers went down to the lab to work on the interdimensional extrapolator. She probably lost track of time.”

“I’ll just bring lunch down to her, then.” Kara notices Jess try, unsuccessfully, to hide another smirk, and almost trips over herself in her haste to dash back into the office—at human speed, just in case a board member or investor unexpectedly steps out of the elevator—to grab the food off the desk.

Back in the foyer, she hovers over her baby, not wanting to wake Bella but unable to resist the marvel of nature that Rao and Lena have blessed her with. Finally she moves to press the elevator button. On a stray thought, she turns back to Lena’s loyal assistant. “Jess, um . . . Did Lena mention anything about meeting your doppelgänger on that other Earth?”

Jess’s eyes narrow almost imperceptibly as she continues to type away, maybe hitting the keys a bit harder than necessary. “She may have said something about it.”

Kara takes a deep breath, unsure as to whether it’s her place to say anything. But she knows her wife will never come right out and ask Jess, just in case it makes her uncomfortable. Lena cares too much about other people’s feelings, and not enough about her own. “She mentioned how nice it was, that that other Jess called her by her given name.”

“I’m sure that . . . _person_ feels it’s appropriate to do so, given she doesn’t work for Mrs. Luthor-Danvers.” Jess’s voice remains calm, but the computer keys cry out for mercy. She glances over at Bella, and satisfied the racket hasn’t become disturbing, continues to take out her annoyance on the keyboard.

The elevator pings, the doors open, and Kara hesitates, her hand in the space between them. “I just think, you know . . . Lena considers you a friend, a good friend. And I think it would mean a lot to her if you would consider relaxing the formalities . . . at least every now and then.”

The typing slows, then finally stops, as the elevator pings relentlessly. Kara finally steps inside, throwing a last beseeching look over at Lena’s assistant—Lena’s _friend_—who now resumes her typing.

“I’ll consider it.”

Kara grins, considering this a small victory. She’ll wear Jess down yet.

*

The elevator descends, past ground level, past the parking garage, past the main laboratory, and keeps going. Kara opens the bag and pops a few potstickers into her mouth, just in case once she meets up with her wife, one type of carnal desire temporarily overpowers the other. The grumbling of her tummy dissipates, sated for the moment.

Finally the elevator settles at the very lowest level—the Gates of Hell, Lena had joked the first time she brought Kara down. (“My mother used to spend a lot of time here.”)

The “Imperial March” plays as the doors slide open—another quirk of Lena’s, as the only projects handled at this level are those Lena has deemed too important, too secretive, to share with anyone but her most trusted confidants. (Jess, basically.)

Kara steps off the elevator and up to a security door. She places her hand onto a biometric scanner. The machine emits an affirmative, and she next removes her glasses and stares straight ahead as her retina is scanned. The machine beeps, multiple locks click open, and she pushes her way inside.

To see Lena, bent over the nearest workstation. Kara suppresses the desire that automatically rises up in her at the sight of her wife in such a compromising position. She moves closer. The interdimensional extrapolator which Cisco had given her has been reduced to a jumble of parts, scattered all over the tabletop. She sets the pizza boxes and the potstickers and the boring salad down, and slides her arms around her wife’s waist. 

Lena looks away from a particular part she’s apparently been wrestling with. “Oh darling, I’m so sorry, I must have lost track of time.”

“No worries.” Kara gives her a kiss on the cheek. “Making any headway?”

“_Yes._” Lena sets the part down to turn in Kara’s arms and give her a _real _kiss. They exchange a few smooches before she continues, “I’ve isolated the mechanism that controls the vibrational speed.”

Kara winks at her wife. “Great! I got here just in time.” 

Lena laughs—which is unfortunate, as that definitely means she’s gotten so absorbed in her work her thoughts are nowhere near their planned quickie. Bummer. Lena turns back to her workstation, quickly screws the parts together, then whirls and waves the extrapolator at Kara, like a college professor waving a piece of chalk. A very sexy college professor. 

“While it was kind of Cisco to program this as a bridge between his Earth and ours, to find the specific Earth I accidentally materialized onto two weeks ago, which for now, we’ll call Earth-X—”

“Um, better make it Earth-Y.” Kara winces. No _ way _ does she ever want either of them to end up back on Earth-X.

Lena’s eyes widen. “Oh dear. How could I have forgotten, you’ve been on _ the _ Earth-X.”

Kara nods, trying to make light of the memory. “How on Earth could an Earth like that exist, am I right?” She smiles at her little pun.

But her wife takes this as an actual question—just like a thoughtful, sexy college professor would. “It’s theorized every time an individual makes a major life choice and takes action upon it, a part of them splits off to experience the consequences of _ not _ having taken that action. The entire reason multiple Earths exist, really. Every choice is either based in love or fear, which is why an Earth where my mom and I are on good terms, and my brother never even got to pull off his plan to terminate you and Superman—I mean, Stupendousman—”

Kara chuckles. _ Imagine _ having to keep a straight face while people referred to you as Stupendousman.

“—would vibrate at a different frequency than our Earth. To find the specific Earth I’m looking for, I need to calibrate the extrapolator to the average level of love-based choices our doppelgängers—or their families—have made. I need to gather enough data to be able to determine the relative proximity of that Earth to ours.” 

Kara bobs her head up and down. “Sounds fairly straightforward.” She reaches for the topmost pizza box, upon which the potstickers are sitting and calling her name. (The salad is already pathetically wilting.) “So we can get down to the serious business of eating lunch. And then eating, um, _ other _ things.” She smiles suggestively, but Lena seems not even to have heard her.

“The problem is, I have no idea how many Earths there are. It could truly be an infinite number. So adjusting the vibration by even a minute amount could lead to a different Earth. To find the specific Earth I visited last month could take a lot of trial and error.”

“Hmm,” Kara teases, again embracing her wife and squeezing her a little tighter. “That’s a lot of Kara Danverses you might get to kiss.”

Lena blushes and squirms, obviously not quite over her guilt, and Kara leans forward to kiss her forehead.

“I’m just teasing, babe. I’ve never blamed you for kissing Stupendousgirl. How _ could _ I blame you, stranded as you were on her Earth, missing me, basically forced to interact with someone who looked and acted exactly like me?” Her wife is always so hard on herself. Just because _ Kara _ has always resisted the temptation to smooch with all the various versions of Lena Luthor she’s encountered on her interdimensional travels— 

Lena kisses her, breaking off her train of thought. She pulls away and grins. “To be honest, you _ are _ just in time. I was just about to take my first trial run. Care to join me?”

Kara raises an eyebrow, in what she hopes is a halfway decent impersonation of her wife’s infamous arch. “For real?”_ Before lunch? Before our quickie? _

“Of course. Everything’s better when we do it together, darling.”

Kara can’t help but melt at that. She almost forgets everything else. Almost.

Lena gestures toward a dial she’s added onto the extrapolator. “We’ll start from the center, the smallest possible distance from Earth-38, and from the data we gather we can calibrate the device to eventually get to the Earth where our doppelgängers just got together.”

Kara nods, impressed. Lunch can wait. For maybe fifteen minutes. “Let’s go spy on our doppelgängers.”

Lena laughs and presses the button, aiming the extrapolator outward. A blue and silver energetic field bursts into existence. Holding hands, they jump through it—

And materialize into an office building that looks almost exactly like L-Corp, right behind this Jess’s desk. Jess herself stands a few yards away, accepting a package from a particularly muscular FedEx delivery man.

Kara and Lena drop down to hide behind the desk.

“This actually should go down to the lab,” says Jess. “See this here? That denotes it doesn’t need to go directly to Mrs. Luthor-Danvers—”

Kara and Lena clutch either other’s arms with glee. They’re married on this Earth, too!

“—but can be sent down. Just so you know for the future. I realize you’re new.”

“Oh sorry,” says the FedEx man. “I’ll take it right down.”

“Don’t worry about it,” says Jess, suddenly switching to a flirty voice Kara’s never heard her use before. “I’ll bring it down myself and set it up for her . . . and maybe you can give me your phone number? Just in case I need to give you further instructions in the future, of course.”

Kara and Lena look at each other. Lena’s eyebrow rises almost to the ceiling. Kara with her super hearing swears she can hear the smile muscles in the delivery man’s face engage.

There’s a loud ping, and they hear two sets of footsteps recede into the elevator.

The elevator doors close, and they stand. Kara chuckles. “In case gathering data on this Earth’s Jess will help with the calibration, she definitely seems to be making more love-based choices than _ our _ Jess.”

Smiling, Lena sits on Jess’s chair and starts typing on the computer, trying different passwords. “We still need to know what’s going on with our doppelgängers to be able to calibrate it properly. My own Jess is able to access the security cameras in my office, in case she suspects my brother’s next assassination attempt is going down. If this Jess is anything like my Jess . . .”

Knowing Jess super well, she quickly hits upon the correct password. An image of this Earth’s Lena in her office appears on the screen . . .

Tied up in the chair behind the desk.

She calls out—softly, way too softly for anyone to hear, especially if she’s soundproofed the office like Kara’s own Lena has for their lunchtime activities—_“Help! Someone please save me!”_

Kara’s muscles tense, readying to break down the door and save her—

Lena gently takes hold of her arm. “She doesn’t seem all that worried, to be honest. I have a feeling we may be witnessing some sort of role-play situation.”

Suddenly a red and blue blur lands on the balcony. The door slides open. This Earth’s Supergirl strides into the office, looking just like Kara, except with somewhat shorter hair. And bangs! Kara tilts her head. That’s a good look on them. Perhaps she should try it.

This Supergirl juts out her chest and sticks her hands on her hips.

_“Don’t worry, Miss Luthor! Supercalifragilisticexpialidociousgirl is here to save you!”_

_“My hero!”_ gushes this Lena, using a damsel in distress voice Kara’s sure her own Lena would never stoop to. _“How can I ever thank you?”_

_“I have a few ideas,”_ says Supercalifragilisticexpialidociousgirl, giggling in a very un-superheroic way and striding over.

“We should probably . . .” whispers Kara, suddenly conscious of her doppelgänger’s supercalifragilisticexpialidocious hearing.

Lena nods, and—

In four quick motions, Supercalifragilisticexpialidociousgirl rips away the ropes binding this Lena’s wrists, torso, and legs . . . and the buttons holding her blouse together.

Kara and Lena stare at the screen in horror.

“We probably have enough data,” whispers Kara.

Lena’s eyebrows have never risen higher. “We definitely have enough data.”

She quickly closes out of the surveillance screen so this Jess won’t be the wiser, takes the extrapolator out of her pocket and opens a new breach. Kara takes her hand, and _ POOF _ they’re gone—

Reappearing on their own Earth.

Kara sighs at a ‘successful’ first trial trip, but doesn’t let go of her wife, instead squeezing her hand a bit harder, thankful that their Earth’s Lois named Clark Superman, and that Cat Grant followed her lead. “Babe. I’m sure they just use that name for role-play. No _way_ she goes around having people call her that.”

Lena smirks, and kisses her. “Honestly, after Stupendousgirl, I wouldn’t put anything past any of your doppelgängers.”

Kara giggles. “Speaking of Stupendousgirl . . . how do you think she’s getting along with your doppelgänger?”

Lena doesn’t say anything for a few moments. Kara would think she’s considering what might be happening on the other Earth . . . except she’s kissing Kara with passion and purpose. This will be an extra long lunch, for sure.

In between kisses, Lena manages to get out, “Honestly, sweetheart, I’m sure they’re doing fine.”

*

Night has fallen on Earth-Y.

Other Lena and Other Kara settle down together on the living room couch in Kara’s cozy two-story house. Lena smiles as Kara shakes out her favorite fuzzy blanket and wraps it around them both.

Kara leans into Lena and kisses her. Lena smiles, and places her hands gently on Kara’s hips, slowly moving them under Kara’s shirt . . .

When Kara’s cell phone rings.

Kara sighs and reluctantly pulls away. “Sorry, I’m so sorry, it could be about my kids—”

Lena slumps against the couch, not too quickly, not wanting Kara to register her disappointment. “No, it’s fine, Kara.” It _could_ be about the kids, but it might be someone needing Stupendousgirl.

Kara taps the screen and holds the phone to her ear. She listens a few moments, her face registering concern. “I’m so sorry, Mona. It’s no trouble at all, of course you need to go. I’ll be right over to get the kids.”

Lena steels herself, trying to seem totally fine with this turn of events, as if she hasn’t been looking forward to tonight all day. Kara hangs up and turns to her sheepishly.

“That was my babysitter. She’s come down with food poisoning and needs to go to the emergency room. I have to go get my kids. I’m so sorry.”

Lena shakes her head. “No, of course, Kara. Things happen, and your kids come first.”

Kara’s eyes drop down to her lap. She reaches out and takes Lena’s hands in hers. “I just don’t want you feeling you come in second. That’s one of the reasons my marriage ended.”

Lena takes a deep breath, and gently squeezes Kara’s hands, even though she knows she could never squeeze them hard enough. Her counterpart had filled her in at the end of the night at the Alice sculpture, how she’d told Kara she felt they were soulmates. Lena’s already felt that spark inside as well, even after only dating this stupendous woman for two weeks. “Kara, please don’t worry. I promise to communicate my needs to you. And to be reasonable about them.”

Kara looks up at her and smiles, and leans in and kisses her again.

Lena smiles into her mouth and kisses her back, before letting go and standing. “Maybe we can continue this tomorrow night?”

Kara jumps up at that, takes hold of Lena’s hips, and gently guides her back down onto the couch. “I promised you a sleepover and you’re _getting_ a sleepover. We just have to scale it down to PG tonight. Is that all right?” She looks at Lena with those puppy dog eyes, and Lena can’t help but melt. “And this way you can get to know my kids a little.”

Lena nods. “No, of course I want to get to know your kids.” _My counterpart practically promised I’d adopt them._

Kara beams and kisses her again, then stands. “I’ll only be, like, five minutes.” She lets out a nervous laugh. “Um, I mean, Mona lives really close. Like, _really_ close. Like down the block.”

Lena grins up at her. Mona could live in Alaska and Kara would be back in five minutes. “Don’t worry, I’ll be fine alone for a little while.”

“Oh you won’t be alone.” Kara gestures around her. “I’m sure the pets will keep you company.”

Lena peers around her warily. Punkie, Kara’s yellow, scruffy mutt, had been lying by Kara’s feet, and now looks up at her with doleful eyes. Rover—big and brown, with floppy ears—and Comet—the biggest sheepdog Lena’s ever seen—stare at her from Kara’s end of the couch. The tuxedo cat, Alfred, thrashes, hidden, at some insect or other behind the living room drapes. And Harry Potter—_Cat_, her counterpart had called him—stares judgingly at Lena from across the room, with Minnie, the family’s pet rat, lying serenely between his front paws.

“And don’t worry.” Kara turns, her hands on her hips, to look warningly at Cat. “Your shoes are safely locked away in the closet. And even if they weren’t, I gave Harry Potter a stern talking to after you left the other night. I doubt very much he’ll be peeing on you ever again.”

“I’m not worried,” Lena squeaks. She’s definitely worried. “You go get your kids. I’ll be fine here with everybody.”

Kara turns back and smiles at her, leans down to kiss her forehead, and strides out of the living room. Lena can hear her grab her keys from the kitchen counter, and a moment later, the front door opens and shuts.

As if on cue, with Mom gone, Punkie gets up from the hardwood floor to move closer to Lena and drop down next to her. He actually lays his head down on one of her socked feet. Rover and Comet shuffle across the couch on their bellies, right on over to her as if they’ve been invited. Lena leans as far back against the sofa arm as she can get, but the dogs just take this as an invitation to squeeze even closer. They’re even bigger this close up, with stinky dog breath.

The drapes are suddenly silenced, as Alfred seems to decide it’s a good time to take a break from hunting down things with wings. He emerges from the windowsill and jumps onto the arm of the couch, right next to Lena. She suppresses a scream, suspecting that would only encourage him, the beast, and moves her head slightly to the left, warping her spine at a ridiculous angle to get as far away from the dogs on her left and the cat on her right as humanly possible. The pig, Charlotte—Lena wonders if Kara ever actually read the book, or just saw the cover lying around somewhere and was confused who was called what—comes over from seemingly out of nowhere, snorting and grunting, and plops down on the other side of Lena’s feet, effectively trapping her there.

Cat and Minnie now get up—rather threateningly, frankly speaking—and slink closer . . . closer . . .

“You better stay away from me,” Lena warns the tortoiseshell with the black lightning-shaped mark on his forehead, who had peed on her counterpart. As if she has anything to threaten him with. She’s stuck here in this pet hair-covered house, as she’s already fallen so hard for Kara, she’s fully prepared to put up with the kids and the pets and anything else that might come up. She decides to change tactics. “_Please_ don’t pee on me.”

Cat springs onto the couch, clambers over Rover and Comet, and jumps down onto Lena’s lap, making her hiss as his sharp claws find purchase on her thin pajama bottoms. He stares at her with his big yellow and green eyes. Lena gulps. She should attempt to make friends. “Good Cat,” she says weakly. “Good Harry Potter.” She reaches out slowly, so as not to startle him, and softly rubs between his ears.

He starts . . . _purring_. Lena lets out the breath she’s been holding, and relaxes.

_THUMP!_

“Oh God!” Something small has landed on her head—something with tiny, clawlike feet tangling in her—

_Oh my God, there’s a rat in my hair, I have a rat in my hair, oh God oh God oh God—_

The front door opens, and little and big feet clomp across the kitchen. Four-year-old Betty and eight-year-old James Jr. rush through the house and up the stairs, screaming merrily at nothing, apparently, as only kids can.

Kara peeks her head into the living room, and lets out a squeal of joy. “Look at you, making friends with all the pets!” She claps her hands. “Let me get my camera.”

Lena mindfully takes full, long breaths to counter her rising panic. _Yes, take the picture, quickly, quickly, please get this rat out of my hair—_

Kara pops in front of her with her Nikon and snaps a few pictures, taking time to get the aperture just right as Lena breathes in and out, in and out, in and out . . . This is a test, just like when Cat peed on her counterpart’s sneakers. She’s got to prove she’s not going to run when things turn difficult, or disconcerting, or honestly, a bit disgusting. And besides, it’s almost over—

“Kids!” Kara calls. “Come down here and get in this picture with us!”

Lena groans internally, but consciously fixes a smile on her face, as Kara herds the kids into position on the couch, arms around various furry bodies, then sets the camera’s timer and settles in beside her.

“Smile everybody!”

The camera flashes, and Kara turns and gives Lena a great big smooch. “See? You fit into this family perfectly!” Lena gives her a weak smile, having made it through an initiation of sorts, apparently.

Kara scrunches up her nose and reaches up to palm Minnie.

“Although, you shouldn’t let Minnie sit _too_ long on your head. Rats are liable to go to the bathroom anywhere.”

*

It’s afternoon on Earth-38, their first trip to the prison to visit Lillian since Lena and Betty’s trip to New York—and Lena’s trip across universes—and Kara’s first time visiting Lillian at all. Brought about only because the last time the family came—their first visit with the new baby—Betty had asked why Mommy never came with them. (“Don’t you like her, Granma?”)

And Lillian, a master of politicking, had answered, “She’s always welcome to visit me dear, if she would like.” As if it wasn’t _her _fault Kara never had before.

Now Kara puts on a big fake smile, for the children.

So does Lillian, broken only by a genuine one as Betty barrels ahead of everyone to jump into her lap and hug her.

“Granma!”

“Betty, darling! How I’ve missed you! And Jack!” Jack has come up to put his arms around her, too. Kara slinks toward the back, as Lena takes a deep breath and a seat, with Bella snug in her baby carrier.

Jack now picks up Betty and sits with her on the other chair.

Lillian doesn’t even give Kara a second look. Instead she makes googly eyes at the baby, who, not knowing any better, smiles at her.

The sight of Lillian chained to the table, in her unflattering orange jumpsuit, barely disguising her contempt for Lena’s wife, strikes a painful contrast to Lena’s memory of Other Lillian’s kindness, immediately accepting of her daughter’s supposed girlfriend, just _because_ she was her daughter’s girlfriend, regardless of her alien DNA.

Lena really needs to step up her trials with the interdimensional extrapolator, find that other Earth, visit with Other Lillian and get some much needed Good Mom time.

Jack and Betty look expectantly—and a bit worriedly—at Lillian and Kara. Lena tenses as her mom and wife each repress a grimace. Kara reluctantly moves forward, and Lillian holds out a chained hand for her to shake.

Betty’s eyes widen. Kara notices, gulps, and instead of shaking the proffered hand, gives Lillian a rather stiff hug. After an awkward moment, Lillian gives Kara a slight pat on the back . . . probably wishing it was with a stick of kryptonite.

They can’t seem to separate fast enough. It’s enough, however. The tension finally dissolves, and Jack and Betty smile.

Kara now moves away, and Lillian immediately looks at the baby, perhaps as a palate cleanser. “May I hold her?”

Lena sighs, but can hardly decline, especially now that her mom has just endured making nice with her archenemy for the children’s sake. And besides, if Lena is going to manage repairing her relationship with the mom she was (unfortunately) fated to have, the baby is a good way of bridging the chasm between them. After all, Lillian _had_ told her last time, the first time she held Bella, that she loved Lena too, not just the children.

Still, after five minutes of watching her probably-still-somewhat-evil mom hold her precious baby, Lena feels her anxiety rising, can almost hear her heart pounding, the blood rushing to her ears. Her wife with the super hearing definitely notices, moving forward and carefully plucking Bella from Lillian’s orange-clad arms.

“I think she needs to be changed.” Kara leaves the visiting room for an obvious needed breather.

Lillian’s lip curls, and whether it’s more in disappointment that her newest grandchild has been taken away, or relief that the hated full-alien has gone, Lena’s not certain.

“Well.” Lillian turns a sweet smile on Betty. “How was your trip to New York with Mummy?”

Betty bounces up and down excitedly on Jack’s lap. “We had a tea party with Barry Allen Potter and Minnie the Pooh, Mummy bought me an el’phant, we fed the ducks and the pigs and the goats and the sheeps—”

Lillian smiles indulgently.

“—and I met Mummy’s twin sister and we had ice cream and got t-shirts ’cause of the pigeons.”

Lillian’s eyes narrow suspiciously as she turns toward her daughter. “What’s this about a twin sister?”

“Nothing. You know how kids like to imagine things,” says Lena firmly, not willing to share her experiences with her doppelgänger and her doppelgänger’s angelic mom with this disappointing version of Lillian. She smiles encouragingly at her daughter. “Tell Grandma how you loved _The Lion King_.”

As Betty moves tangentially from talking about an other-dimensional being to gushing over dancers wearing fake fur and feathers, Lena breathes easier, as it seems her mom has totally forgotten about the presumably imaginary, other-dimensional being.

It’s not as if Lillian could do anything diabolical with that information, locked up as she is in California’s most maximum security prison for women. Still, Lena has learned through multiple painful experiences not to underestimate her. Regarding anything.

Soon Jack is telling Grandma all about playing shortstop for his Little League baseball team—and all the control over his super strength and speed that requires—and Lena almost forgets to be worried.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I want to give some context as to why Other Kara wanted to get Minnie off Other Lena’s head. When pet rats/mice are newly acquired and handled by their owners, they’re nervous and will often go in their owners’ hands, _until_ they get used to them and feel comfortable. Domesticated rats are actually very clean. Earth-38’s Kara and Lena had Minnie for 7 years and were a bit unorthodox in that they didn’t keep her in a cage; they trained her to use a corner of Cat’s litter box. I don’t want people to get the wrong idea about the cleanliness of their living situation. =^.^=

Probably something that’s consistent across all Earths is that Lena Luthor is ambitious.

That’s certainly the case on Earth-Y, where Other Lena’s been working hard in the lab, always conscious of others’ safety, but perhaps a bit too lackadaisical with her own.

The contraption she’s been working on explodes, and thank God she’s wearing her safety goggles and fireproof lab coat, not like some silly floozy she saw on TV, working with hazardous materials while wearing sexy, revealing, inappropriate-for-work clothing.

Her colleagues rush over to her, and someone blasts her and her workstation with a fire extinguisher.

“Lena, you okay?” asks Josh.

She coughs, stepping away from the chemical fog, her lab coat black and charred. “I’m fine. Is anyone hurt?”

Everyone shakes their heads, or chuckles, and Berman quips they thought they were working with the non-mad scientist Luthor. Lena laughs, and makes a mental note not ever to promote Berman, once she ascends to CEO.

Josh and Elaine, helpful as always, grab brooms and dustpans from the closet, but Lena waves them off, pulling the cleaning utensils from Josh’s hands. “I made the mess, I’ll clean it up. It’s after quitting time on a Friday, guys. You should head on out.”

“Sure,” says Elaine—quickly, loyally sweeping a mass of shards into her dustpan despite Lena’s protests. “We’ll be at the bar, as usual, if you want to meet up.”

Lena sighs. “I wish I could, guys. I’m having dinner with my mom tonight.”

Her friends leave, and so does Berman, shrugging off their goggles and lab coats, saying their goodbyes.

Lena squints at the mess in front of her. Technically an accident, she’s sure her subconscious manufactured this incident as an excuse not to head to her mom’s. With Kara. She pulls her cell out of her pocket and calls her.

_“Hey, where are you? I’m at the café we met up at before dinner with your mom last time. It’s almost six o’clock. You know how she despises tardiness.”_

Lena shakes her head._ As if I would know where that specific café is. _ “That’s why I’m calling, sweetheart. I’ve had a bit of a snafu at work and need to clean up. I’m going to be late. Maybe we should just cancel?”

There’s a slight pause. Perhaps Kara’s considering it?

_“We can’t do that to your mom. She can’t wait to see us again, and we had to cancel last week because of that other snafu at work, remember?”_

Lena sighs. She’s becoming laughably predictable.

_ _“_How about I go and keep her company while you take care of what you need to do, and you meet up with us when you can?”_

Lena smirks. “You just don’t want to miss out on any more of my mom’s fabulous dinners. Or, should I say, Mayumi’s fabulous dinners.”

Kara laughs, beautiful peals of mirth Lena could listen to all day. _“You caught me. You don’t really mind, do you?”_

_I don’t mind anything you say or do. I love everything you say and do._ “Not at all. See you soon.”

Kara makes a kissy noise before hanging up, and Lena could just die. This woman is just too adorable. She’s going to be the death of her.

She sighs, and commences cleaning up, so she can go to dinner with Kara and her mom after all. Not that she would normally pass up dinner with her mom, or dinner with Kara. It’s dinner with the both of them that’s troubling her. She’s afraid her mom’s going to realize, from the dynamic between her and Kara, or something Lena will say—or ‘not remember’ having heard her mom or Kara say—that she’s not the same Lena who came to dinner with Kara two weeks ago. Her counterpart had filled her in—bullet points, really—but it would have been impossible for her to remember every little thing everyone had said that evening.

Lillian had actually invited them over last week, but Lena hadn’t had enough time to emotionally prepare. Hence the ‘snafu.’

Even more terrifying would be if Kara should realize Lena’s not the same Lena Luthor she initially went out with.

She really hadn’t been sure how she was going to explain to Kara her ‘magical disappearance,’ then reappearance that night, after her counterpart and she had debriefed. She thought she might tease Kara, lead her to believe Lena was also an alien, or perhaps a metahuman, and had dashed off to take care of something urgent, mid-kiss. But she hadn’t really wanted to mislead Kara, any more than she already had. And she really didn’t want to force Kara to come out of the stupendoushero closet.

Thankfully, the magical field that had carried her across universes had affected Kara as well. Lena had materialized into Kara’s living room to find her sitting on the sofa, back straight, eyes closed, an expression of pure bliss on her face. As if she were in a trance. (Or, perhaps, Lena’s counterpart was just that good at kissing.) Lena had carefully brushed Kara’s lips with her own, and Kara had awoken as if no time at all had passed. 

And kissed her back.

They’d spent the rest of the night kissing, and talking and giggling, only taking a break so Kara could tuck her kids into bed, along with their dogs, while Lena sat nervously on the couch watching TV, being watched by various pets. (Not Cat, as he was in ‘pet jail’—the downstairs bathroom—for the crime of peeing on her counterpart’s sneakers.)

Kara returned, and there was more kissing, and talking, until finally Kara walked her to the train station, while making plans to see her again very soon. (i.e., the very next day.) They kissed goodnight. Lena used her MetroCard to go through the turnstile—Kara called, “Wait!”—and Lena turned, thinking she’d forgotten something. But Kara just smiled and leaned over the turnstile to kiss her once more. “One for the road. Um, the tracks, I mean.”

Lena rode the N back across the water, back to Manhattan, in a state of bliss not at all disturbed by the drunk mangling Alicia Keys’ “Empire State of Mind.” (_“These streets will make you feel brand new, big lights will inspire you, hear it for New Yoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooork!” _) Kara’s kisses _had_ made her feel brand new. She transferred to the 1 to make her way to her apartment in the East Village, her joy only slightly tempered by a twinge of guilt.

_I should tell her the truth_, she couldn’t help but think when she awoke in the morning, hungover from too much happiness. _Imagine, all this time I wasted. Maybe Kara and I could have been together all these months, if I’d just gotten up the courage to ask._ She imagines it for a few moments, what might have happened if she’d just bravely gone up to Kara and at least struck up a conversation. If she hadn’t chickened out, again and again. If the magical Cheshire Cat had never gotten exasperated with her and switched her with her counterpart. Her counterpart from Earth-38, that Lena had said.

She snorts. _Eh, who am I kidding? I probably would have bungled it somehow. Or maybe we would’ve dated and she wouldn’t have liked me all that much. Not . . . not like she likes my counterpart._

And she’s been stressing out over such thoughts ever since.

Finally she and the lab are back to looking presentable, and too soon she’s stepping off the elevator of her mom’s building, onto the penthouse level.

“Lena, darling!” Her mom holds open the door, beaming. Acting as if they haven’t seen each other in ages. As if they hadn’t just had lunch together five hours ago. Not that Lena’s complaining about how much her mother loves her, and how Lillian freely expresses it. Especially ever since her counterpart’s daughter clued Lena in on her counterpart’s mother’s jailbird status, Lena’s been more apt to forgive her own mom’s—what seem now to be—paltry flaws.

“Hello, Mother.” Lillian doesn’t seem at all upset at Lena’s tardiness, no doubt charmed by Kara’s company, as anyone would be. Lena enters the apartment, and she and Lillian naturally draw together to kiss each other on the cheek. Lillian now pulls away, shutting the door and reaching to fondly push Lena’s hair out of her eyes—

Lena quickly pulls back, not wanting her mom to notice she doesn’t have an undercut, like the Lena her mom had over to dinner with Kara two weeks ago.

Lillian’s eyes flash with concern. “Sweetheart, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing, Mom. I’m just, _stupendously_ hungry,” Lena squeaks, then laughs awkwardly. Weirdly, possibly. Anyone already suspicious would immediately seize upon this high-pitched utterance as an admission of guilt. But her mom just smiles at the in-joke. That should go some way toward convincing Lillian she _is_ the Lena her mom had over to dinner with Kara last time.

“Sorry I’m late.” She follows her mom into the dining room, where Kara slurps French onion soup and gives her a big smile. Lena leans down to give her a peck on the cheek before sitting next to her. “Little accident at the lab. Nothing to worry about.”

Lillian sighs. “That Berman. Honestly, if it wasn’t that your father was fond of him for some reason, I wouldn’t keep him.” She looks at Kara. “Don’t worry, dear, he hasn’t a wife or children.”

“It was my fault, actually,” Lena admits. “I was a bit distracted today.”

“Oh?” Lillian gazes at her, surprised. “Anything I can do to help?”

Lena shakes her head. “It’s nothing, Mom. Really. I can handle it.” _I’m lying to you both and I’m not handling it._

Suddenly she realizes her mom’s staring at her right hand. She shifts self-consciously. Does her counterpart have a scar or something her mom had noticed last month? Does she suspect something?

But Lillian merely smiles and reaches out to pat Lena’s hand. “All right, dear. I just worry about you, that’s all.”

Kara finishes her soup and puts down her spoon. “I didn’t know you ran LuthorCorp, Lillian.”

“I don’t. I’m just on the board of directors. Lena, I’ll be right back with your soup. Kara, another bowl?”

Kara bobs her head up and down enthusiastically, and Lillian smiles and disappears into the kitchen.

Lena whispers conspiratorially, “Don’t be fooled by her false humility. Mother pretty much runs whatever institutions have made the mistake of putting her on their board.”

Kara laughs, as if Lena’s just told a funny joke, instead of the God’s honest truth.

Lillian returns with two steaming hot bowls, and places them in front of them. “I was just telling Kara about the benefit I’m throwing for the museum. I do hope you’ll both attend.”

Kara takes up her spoon again with a big grin. “And I was just telling your mom we’d be delighted to come. Um, to be there. Yeah.”

Lena ducks her head, sure her cheeks are flaming at Kara’s awkward phrasing.

Lillian seems not to notice. “Lena, dear, perhaps you could put in a word with your friend Samantha. I would assume as CEO of LuthorCorp she would consider it her duty to at least make an appearance, but she was rather vague on the phone with me last week.”

Lena’s stomach churns at the mere thought. She and Sam have been avoiding each other for almost a year. “I’ll talk to her, Mom.”

*

They stroll down Fifth Avenue after dinner, toward the subway that will take them to Astoria, to Kara’s house, where the kids and the pets and the babysitter await. She and Kara will make out on the couch while the kids and pets play in the yard, and then Lena will make her way back to Manhattan, back to her own blissfully kidless, pet hair-free, quiet, lonely apartment. Is it too soon to propose they move in together?

Of course it is. They haven’t even had the commitment talk yet. And oh, there’s still that little matter of Lena needing to confess she’s an imposter. 

It’s a beautiful night. Not too warm, not too cool, with a nice breeze. They’re right by the park. It’s inherently romantic. A good night for confessing to things that in a different light, might seem rather shady, but for now would borrow from the romance of the moonlight. The breeze rustles the trees. A dog barks on the other side of the street, urging Lena on. 

The barking becomes an incessant howling, along with an impatient command to hush up. Lena takes heed. It’s not safe to share her secret just yet.

Kara lightly squeezes Lena’s hand. “Is everything okay? You seemed kind of uncomfortable back there with your mom.”

Lena sighs. She really hadn’t wanted to have to tell Kara about Sam just quite yet. Even though Kara has spoken freely of her exes. “She wants me to talk to our CEO about attending the gala. Apparently she’s been giving Mom the run-around.”

Kara thinks this over a moment. “And you don’t feel comfortable asking her because you don’t know her well? Being in the lab—”

“I dated her, Kara. It didn’t end well.” 

She hadn’t meant to say it so bluntly, nor to stop short in the middle of the sidewalk. She hadn’t wanted it to be a big deal. “Sorry. I meant to tell you eventually.”

Kara shakes her head and strokes the backs of Lena’s hands with her thumbs. “You don’t have to tell me anything you don’t want to.”

“I do want to, Kara. I don’t want secrets between us.” _ Other than the really huge secret I’m afraid to share. _

Kara inhales sharply. She must be thinking of her own secret. Afraid of how Lena will react to learning she’s Stupendousgirl. Not having a clue Lena already knows. Not having a clue Lena has a much worse secret of her own.

But now’s not the time for that. 

“She has a kid. A really great, fourteen-year-old kid. I just wasn’t ready to handle being a step-parent. I am_ now_—” she adds in what she hopes is a reassuring tone, even though she’s not really sure of it herself. “It’s just that . . . things were different between us. There was definite physical attraction and I care for her a lot, and I adore her daughter. But I never felt I had found where I was meant to land. Do you understand?”

Kara nods, a sober look on her face, and Lena presses—

“But when I’m with you, I feel . . . When I’m around you I don’t feel any longing to be anywhere else. I feel at home . . . Is that weird, feeling that way this soon?”

Kara just leans in, and kisses her. 

Lena gently bites down on Kara’s lip—

When a siren blares not five feet away.

Lena jumps five feet into the air. Or, she would have, were Kara not holding her and keeping her grounded.

A tall, redheaded woman steps out of an unmarked police car—its red beacon light rotating on the dash, the siren thankfully silenced—and steps purposefully toward them. With her height, her stern expression, and the gun at her hip, she would be intimidating were it not that Lena recognizes her from all the pictures of her and her sister on display at Kara’s house.

Alex steps into Lena’s personal space—all right, yes, she’s still intimidating—and presents her detective badge. “NYPD. Sorry, ladies. I’m going to have to cite you for excessive cuteness.”

Kara grins. “Lena, this is my sister, Alex Danvers. Alex, this is Lena . . . my . . . my girlfriend.”

Lena’s heart skips a beat. Even though she’s just basically confessed her deep feelings for Kara, this is the first time either of them has used that word.

Alex holds out a hand for Lena to shake, and Lena obliges—and immediately stiffens in pain. 

“So great to meet you finally,” says Alex, tightening her grip even more, like a dungeon master tightening the screws. “I’ve heard so much about you. About how happy you’ve made my sister.”

Lena can quite imagine what the NYPD detective might do were she ever to make Alex’s sister _unhappy._ She finally manages to extricate what remains of her hand, and pulls her arms behind her back so she can rub it discreetly. “That’s . . . quite a grip you’ve got there.”

“Oh, did I hurt you?” Alex smiles innocently. “I’m so sorry. Out in the field, I have to be so conscious of not using excessive force. Sometimes in social situations I kind of forget how strong I am.”

Kara gives her sister a light punch on the shoulder. “Quit it, Alex. Lena’s not going to hurt me.”

Lena nods hurriedly, giving Alex her most sincere smile. Alex smiles back. Like a Doberman might smile before it ate you.

Kara sighs good naturedly, obviously having been witness to Alex’s overprotective nature numerous times. “I’ve actually been meaning to get you two together. How about we combine Sister Night and Main Squeeze Night and—_oh_.” She bites her lip in dismay as Alex winces. “I’m sorry, Alex. I didn’t think.”

“It’s fine, Kara.” Alex gives her sister a gentle smile, all her snarkiness gone. “I’d love to get to know your girlfriend.”

Lena looks between them, confused, but Kara brightens again. “Great! How about Wednesday night? I can have Mona take the kids, so you two can focus on getting to know each other.”

“I’ll bring the wine.” Alex gives her sister a kiss on the cheek, and Lena a curt nod, before moving back to her car.

“What was that about?” Lena whispers.

Kara shakes her head. “She and her fiancée broke up recently. Alex wants kids. Maggie didn’t. Main Squeeze Night used to be when James and I and Alex and Maggie got together.”

“Oh.” Lena finds herself actually feeling sorry for Alex for a moment . . . before an idea of how to capitalize on Alex’s situation hits her. 

“What are you plotting?” Kara’s tone is accusatory, but there’s a twinkle in her eye, and Lena’s in awe that her new girlfriend already knows her so well.

“I was just thinking . . . Your sister’s ex broke up with her because she didn’t want kids and Alex did. My ex has a kid!” Lena laughs at the simplicity of it. “And as for bedroom dynamics”—she pulls her hands out from behind her back—“Look! My fingers have grown back!”

Kara dissolves into adorable giggles, and Lena smiles. 

“I really think they’d be a good match.”

Kara tilts her head. “So your plan is to get them together . . .”

“At my mother’s gala. If I can get Sam to agree to go, and you get your sister to tag along with you . . .”

Kara grins without showing any teeth, an utterly endearing smushing together of lips that Lena wants forevermore to kiss. “I still can’t believe I’m invited to your mother’s gala.”

Lena smiles and takes hold of Kara’s hands, to gently pull her in. “Well, you _ are _ my girlfriend, so . . .”

Kara inches closer to her, and presses her lips softly against—

_ And _ the siren blares again, and Lena jumps once more as Alex’s car speeds past.

*

She texts Elaine she’ll be a few minutes late; they’re planning to work together this morning. Elaine of course won’t be fazed if Lena doesn’t show up right on time, but Lena never wants to take her friends for granted.

Idling in the lobby near the snack machine, she alternates between shooting glances over her shoulder and checking her watch. Sam should be along any min—

As if on cue, long, elegant legs stride through the front doors. They waltz through the metal detector, an angelic voice singing hello to the guards—compromising the security of the building for those few moments as the guards fawn over her. Lena waits until Sam enters the elevator before darting over, just managing to skip inside before the doors slide shut.

Her ex stiffens. “I’m going up.”

Lena hastens to hit the button for the thirteenth floor. “I’m going to HR before heading down to the lab.” 

Sam relaxes slightly. “Honestly, that Berman. What did he do now?”

Lena shakes her head. “It’s nothing like that. I just need to fill out some forms.”

“Oh.” Sam nods, then averts her eyes, pretending to read her newspaper, which is upside down.

Lena steels herself, affecting a nonchalant tone. “I was wondering if you’re planning to make it to the gala. Mother is practically beside herself as you haven’t yet confirmed. She says there’ll be a scandal if our CEO doesn’t at least make an appearance.” She takes out her cell and thumbs to the _ New York Times _ webpage. She may as well delight in Kara’s byline while pretending not to be too invested in this conversation.

“Mmm, I keep forgetting to get back to her. I’ll do it today.” 

There’s an awkward silence. Finally the elevator lands on HR’s floor. The doors ping and Lena takes a step forward.

Hesitating, she turns and looks once more at her ex, feeling a wave of sorrow at how things ended between them. Fully accepting the blame. Wishing she could make amends. “How is Ruby doing? I . . . I miss her.”

Sam stiffens again, and clutches her paper a little bit tighter. “She’s well. I’ll tell her you asked after her.”

Lena waits perhaps a moment too long, as the doors loudly express their impatience at her dawdling. Wishing she could get up the courage to say she misses Sam, too. That she’s sorry. That Sam will tell her that Ruby misses her also, implying that Lena’s forgiven.

But she doesn’t deserve that. She broke two hearts when she left. She quickly strides away, toward Human Resources, until the doors close and she can turn right around and wait for the elevator on its way back down.

She thinks for a moment how fun it would be to cause trouble for Berman, and that almost takes her mind off the pain in her heart.

*

Sister and Main Squeeze Night comes along a few nights later. Lena knows roping Alex into accompanying them to the gala will take a bit more finesse to pull off.

Kara has warned her Alex will balk if she suspects they’re trying to hook her up with some woman. In Alex’s mind, some random woman, inferior to Maggie in every way. Alex is a detective. She detects. They’ll need to be sneaky about it.

“_Why _ do I need to go to this gala with you?” Alex looks puzzled by the mere suggestion.

Lena and Kara both open their mouths, ready to explain Lena will often be busy schmoozing with guests so they’ll attend the next LuthorCorp benefit—

“You’ve been sad without Aunt Maggie.” James Jr. tromps through the living room on his way out the front door, where Mona is waiting with Betty. “They’re going to hook you up.”

The door slams, and the three adults stare after him. Lena’s jaw drops. Did he overhear her and Kara conspiring with his stupendous hearing? Or is he just that smart?

Or are they just that obvious?

Alex turns on Kara. “You’re _ what?” _

“It’s not just some random woman.” Kara sticks her hands on her hips in a very familiar, authoritative pose, and if Lena didn’t already know she was Stupendousgirl, she would now. “It’s Lena’s—”

“_Friend_,” Lena interjects. They don’t need to make it weird. 

Kara seems to realize she was about to say the wrong thing. She smiles to support Lena’s statement. “Her good friend, yes. Someone she thinks would really click with you.”

Alex glares at them both, in total detective mode. “She’s Lena’s ex, isn’t she?”

Kara deflates, but Lena straightens up from slouching on the couch. “So what if she is? She’s not just some reject. Sam’s a wonderful woman. I was lucky to be with her.” She looks to Kara quickly, mouthing, _ Not nearly as lucky as with you. _ Kara beams, and Lena looks back to Alex, whose dagger eyes have softened slightly. Now they’re just kitchen knife eyes. “She’s brilliant and kind and thoughtful and . . .”

Alex’s eyes narrow, and Lena realizes she has to explain why she’s not still with such a brilliant and kind and thoughtful woman. “She has a kid. I wasn’t ready for that then. But you are, so . . .” She waves her arm, as the inference should be evident.

“So I’m just supposed to go for any LGBT woman who comes complete with a kid?” Alex looks insulted, then seems to think about this for a moment. “Is she cute?”

“She’s _ hot_.” Lena quickly turns back to Kara, and mouths, _ Not nearly as hot as you. _

Kara smiles and pats her on the knee, perhaps to intimate they’ll talk this through later, when Alex has gone. Perhaps in the bedroom. She turns to her sister. “There’s no pressure, Alex. She doesn’t know anything’s afoot. You don’t even have to be introduced to her if you don’t find her attractive.”

Alex sighs and runs a hand through her hair, before finally succumbing. (Kara has confided in Lena, Alex doesn’t do one-night stands. So it’s been awhile.) “I suppose it couldn’t hurt to meet her. I guess I’m supposed to wear something fancy to this thing, huh?”

*

She _ is _wearing something fancy, something without even a gun belt, a week later as their limousine pulls up outside the Metropolitan Museum of Art, its entrance tonight shielding hundreds of celebrities and VIPs under a wide canopy.

Lena smiles into Kara’s mouth, giving her girlfriend a quick kiss before opening the door and stepping out. The crowds behind the barriers across the street emit frenzied screams; unauthorized photographers click away just in case she turns out to be someone important. A few recognize her as a Luthor—as the hostess’s daughter—and call her name, asking for a smile. She obliges them with a huge, fake grin, gives a little wave, then reaches out a hand to help Kara step gingerly outside and not trip over her trailing gown. More cameras go off, more screams resound from across the street. Kara’s eyes go wide and she squeezes Lena’s hand.

“Don’t worry, they’ll move on to someone else soon enough.” Lena can’t help smirking. If the paparazzi only knew Stupendousgirl was in their midst.

Alex emerges next in her black sleeveless gown, and stares at the crowd and all the photographers. Many snap photos of her as well, because better safe than sorry. She turns to look at the wide canopy and the frenzy all around them, limos pulling up and disgorging their famous, beautiful occupants. Alex turns on Lena with a dazed expression. “Seriously? Your mom hosts the _ Met _Gala?”

Kara giggles. “Her mom practically _ runs _ New York.”

Lena shrugs. Her mom is her mom, has always been—or, at least, she’s all Lena has ever known, aside from a few precious memories of her birth mother. All this seems normal to her, as much as Lillian’s tried to shield her from the worst of society life, and as much as Lena’s career in the lab has so far made her relatively uninteresting to those who inhabit her mother’s world. She clutches Kara a bit tighter and gently pulls her behind her as a staff member quickly escorts them under the canopy, to the end of the long line of celebs waiting to get onto the red carpet. 

Alex and Kara gaze around them at all the philanthropists, entertainers, fashion designers . . . at all the flamboyant gowns and costumes, and tuxes in shades normally only found in a Crayola box.

“Oh my God, is that Madonna?” Alex’s jaw drops at the sight of the famous baseball player.

Lena nods. “Did you know she’s launching a singing career?”

“And acting,” Kara adds. Lena looks over at her girlfriend with surprise. “What?” Kara says with a smile. “I keep up with pop culture.”

Lena wants to tease her girlfriend, ask her how she has time to keep up with _ anything _ on top of her kids and her job and her pets and her uptight sister and being this city’s stupendoushero-in-residence. Instead she bites her lip. She can’t say anything. And she can’t blame Kara for not trusting her with her secret. Not when she hasn’t been able to trust Kara with hers.

They finally make it to the front of the line, where the authorized paparazzi stand shoulder to shoulder, ensconced behind fake hedges, their cameras clicking away. Lena leads Kara and Alex down the red carpet and slowly up the stairs, deftly avoiding the reporter from _Vogue_, to finally enter the museum.

The lights are dim, the Great Hall decked out in topiary to recreate the palace gardens of Versailles, befitting this year’s theme of European Royalty. They make their way through, following other guests adorned to the nines, Alex muttering she needs a drink. They slowly ascend the Grand Staircase—tonight swathed in pink, flowery carpet—flanked by footmen in powdered wigs. At the top waits the hostess, greeting each guest or couple in turn. Lena smirks as her mom exchanges air-kisses with retired All-Star Jennifer Lopez and her fiancé, dancer, singer, actor Alex Rodriguez.

Soon Lillian spies them, her eyes lighting up with anticipation. She politely nods as volleyball star Gisele Bündchen and her husband, model Tom Brady, perhaps overstay their welcome. Finally they move away, and—

“Kara, darling! Lena, my love!” Lillian greets them each with a hug and a kiss on the cheek. Lena smiles at how her mom already considers Kara part of the family. 

Too bad that won’t happen, as Kara will no doubt break up with her, once she discovers the truth.

Lillian now regards Alex with a glimmer of recognition. Alex and her partner were the first officers on the scene at the explosion at LuthorCorp’s old New York building. Alex had been itching to arrest Lex, being all-too-familiar with kryptonite and its uses. Her partner had restrained her, fearing a lawsuit. Kara now hurriedly pipes up. “Lillian, this is my sister, Alex Danvers. Alex, this is Lillian. Lillian Luthor.”

“Nice to meet you.” Alex awkwardly sticks out a hand, but Lillian breaks into a smile and takes it in both of hers. 

“I’m so pleased to meet you. Your sister has practically become part of the family already.”

Alex nods. “She’s always had a way about her. Just makes you want to adopt her already.”

The Luthor matriarch laughs at that, and Alex adds, “On behalf of the NYPD, I’d like to thank you, Mrs. Luthor. Your support of the department, and your efforts at fundraising and your own contributions to the Disabled Officers Fund have been most appreciated.”

Lillian humbly waves this away. “I _ am _ on the board. It’s the least I can do.”

Kara raises an eyebrow, and Lena whispers, “Mother is on _ all _the boards.” Kara stifles a giggle, as a tall body in a long, flowing gown steps into their circle uninvited. Lena turns to the intruder, surprised anyone on the guest list would commit such a social faux pas. At the Met Gala, no less.

Samantha Arias turns on her winning smile, and directs it at Alex. “Excuse me, I don’t mean to interrupt. It’s just, I have some ideas on how LuthorCorp can improve on its support of our police and fire departments.”

Lillian beams at this, the idea that Sam might have an ulterior motive probably never occurring to her. “Alex, do you know our CEO? No? This is Samantha Arias. Samantha, this is Alex Danvers, a detective with New York’s Finest. And this is her sister, Kara Danvers. I don’t know if my daughter has introduced her to you yet?”

Kara gulps and gives Sam an awkward little wave. It’s plain she’s Lena’s date. Lena’s girlfriend. It seems everyone realizes this is awkward. 

Everyone but Lillian, who hasn’t a clue. She chuckles. “Isn’t it a small world? Alex has graced _ our _ gala with her presence, and _ I’ll _ be attending the annual police officers’ gala next week.”

Alex laughs nervously. “Third wheel here. Sure hope I find a date to my own gala.”

Lena face-palms internally. Kara’s sister is _ so _ not smooth. Unless she’s interrogating, or detecting, or strong-arming, apparently.

But Sam doesn’t even seem to notice, and just keeps smiling. “I came solo as well. I’d love to run my ideas by you, Detective.” She lowers her voice slightly, so Lillian won’t hear. “These P.R. events are drop-dead boring. I would relish some scintillating conversation.”

Alex stares at her for a moment, seemingly unable to grasp that this beautiful woman has just basically hit on her. “I can scintillate . . . _I mean_, converse.”

Suddenly screams ring out. They look down the stairs, where a horde of masked men waving automatic rifles has invaded the Great Hall seemingly out of nowhere. Security guards rush to engage, as guests shriek with fear. Lillian calmly but authoritatively calls for everyone to follow her into the banquet hall.

Alex glances at Lena, then looks to her sister. “You and Lena help Mrs. Luthor get everyone to safety. I’ll help the guards.”

Kara shakes her head emphatically. “You don’t have your gun.”

“Pfft. When has that ever mattered?” Alex squeezes Kara’s shoulder, then rushes off.

Lena turns to her girlfriend. “I can handle the guests. You go help Alex.”

“Right!” Kara nods and moves to head off, then remembers herself, turning to Lena, affecting an incredulous look. “How—how am _ I _ supposed to—”

“I _know_, Kara.” Lena inhales sharply, hating it has to come out like this. “I’ve known since before the first time we went out.” She can’t help but reach out to softly caress Kara’s cheek. 

Kara’s eyes widen as she processes this for a moment, her hand reaching up to take hold of Lena’s. Then . . . “You’ll be okay?”

Lena smiles despite the situation, just because of the love in Kara’s eyes. “I’ll be fine.”

Kara leans forward to give her a quick kiss, then dashes off toward the nearest pillar to change into her Stupendous suit.

Lena turns to look out below at the hall, just in time to see Alex jump off the balcony, slam onto the shoulders of the terrorist below, pin him to the floor, wrestle away his automatic, and punch him out cold.

_ Damn. _ Lena shakes her head. _I had better never hurt Kara._

A red and blue blur streaks down from the balcony, and Lena represses the urge to watch, instead turning to see what she can do to help.

*

With Stupendousgirl there, it’s not long before the terrorists are taken care of.

After the police finish dragging them off and taking witness statements, the gala resumes with extra fervor. Kara Danvers returns conspicuously soon after Stupendousgirl has left the scene. Sam fawns over Alex’s display of strength and valor and disappears with her well before the gala ends, which means Lena and Kara share a quiet ride home.

It’s not quiet for long.

“I’ve been wanting to tell you,” says Kara with a sorrowful expression. “I’m not really allowed to. I know I should’ve anyway—”

Lena shuts her up with a kiss.

Because it might be their last.

“It doesn’t matter,” she says after finally, regretfully pulling away. “Your secret identity is for your protection—”

“And for _yours_—”

Lena presses her lips to Kara’s once more. No excuses are necessary. They share a few gentle kisses before Lena again withdraws, her heart pounding. She rushes to say, before she can back out, “I need to tell you something, too. Something I should have told you a long time ago.”

Kara’s eyes widen, and that’s the last thing Lena sees before she closes her own. She can’t bear to see the look of betrayal on Kara’s face when she tells her.

“I’m not the same Lena you went out with that first day. It was me all the other times—I saw you in the park every Friday, and I wish I’d gotten up the courage to ask you out. But that day . . . I was somehow switched with a Lena Luthor from another Earth. She’s married to your counterpart on that Earth, and, well, I guess she didn’t trust us to get together on our own.” She waits to hear Kara’s burst of outrage. Or the limousine door opening and the _ whoosh _ of Stupendousgirl getting away from her as quickly as possible.

Neither of those things happen. It’s very quiet in the back of the limousine. Lena plunges onward with a heavy heart. “So if you ever thought things between us weren’t as exciting as on that first day . . . it’s because after that, it was me. I was too afraid to tell you. I didn’t think you’d want me. I’ll understand if you don’t want to be with me any—”

Kara shuts her up with a kiss.

It’s magical, and Lena almost thinks she’s dreaming the whole thing, that she’s been shot by a terrorist at the gala and is perhaps in critical condition, hallucinating she’s finally confessing and that it’s going well.

Perhaps she’s in Heaven.

Heavenly lips withdraw, and Lena fearfully opens her eyes. They’re in the limo, with the huge extra slice of chocolate hazelnut cake Lillian had smuggled Kara on the seat across.

Kara just smiles at her. “I knew.”

Lena’s jaw drops. “You did?”

Kara nods. “I know Jay Garrick. The Flash on Earth-3. I’ve been to other universes before—did you know there’s a version of me who calls herself Supercalifragilisticexpialidociousgirl?” She rolls her eyes adorably. “Can you imagine? Anyway, I figured you were pretty similar to that other Lena, give or take a few decisions and life circumstances along the way. And I figured, if she went to all that trouble to get us together, that you were worth it. And you are. Just like I knew you’d be. I mean, I’d seen you in the park every Friday, for _months_, wishing you would talk to me.”

Lena smiles, still somewhat wishing she had. But thankful for every moment that’s led up to this.

“Besides, that day, you had an undercut.” Kara smiles, and reaches to run her hand through Lena’s full, long locks. “I didn’t think I’d imagined it.”

“I contemplated getting it cut,” says Lena softly. “To better fool you.”

Kara tilts her head curiously. “Why didn’t you?”

“I didn’t _ want _ to fool you.” Lena looks down at her lap. “I’ve wanted to tell you the truth from the start.”

Kara gently runs her hand down the side of Lena’s face, brushing her cheek with her fingertips. “Were you afraid I wouldn’t like you as much as that other Lena?”

Lena takes a deep breath, lets it out, then looks up into Kara’s eyes. “I just thought, you two hit it off so well . . . I didn’t think I could live up to that. Especially as I hadn’t yet spent any time with your kids, or your pets—I wasn’t certain I _ could _ deal with them, just to be with you.”

Kara seems to hold her breath a moment, then asks, “And now . . . _ now _ do you?”

Lena laughs a little. “I adore your kids . . . and I don’t mind most of your pets. Some of them are even growing on me a little.”

Kara grins. “Let me guess. Harry Potter.”

Lena smirks. “He’s my _favorite_.”

They share a laugh, before Kara’s expression turns somber. “And how . . . how do you feel about _me_, exactly?”

Lena bites her lip. She already told Kara how she felt. Something about how she was her place to land or whatnot. “Do you really have to ask?”

Kara looks at her with those big, blue, sincere eyes, and Lena melts like the chocolate frosting on the cake on the seat. “It’s just . . . It’d be nice to hear the words, you know? Otherwise it’s almost like you’re leaving yourself a way out.”

Lena closes her eyes, wishing she had some whiskey right about now. She doesn’t _ really _want a way out . . . It’s just, it’s terrifying, feeling something this strong. This soon. “I . . . I think I love you. Do you think it’s too soon?”

Kara doesn’t say anything a moment, and Lena opens her eyes, panic rising—

And Kara kisses her. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For the last fic, when I decided Good Lillian would live a few blocks away and across the street from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, I read a few articles, and then a few books, on the so-called "Good Buildings" of New York. Old money. Snobbery. Old society ladies with total control over who gets in and who stays out. I thought, _Wow, this is perfect for Good Lillian._ I hope you all are enjoying reading about her as much as I'm enjoying writing her.
> 
> Next chapter, Earth-38 Lena pushes her luck, attempting to fool Good Lillian yet again. :)


	3. Chapter 3

Honesty in a relationship makes such a blessed difference.

Other Lena sits, stupendously relaxed, on Other Kara’s living room couch. She would be relaxed even if Kara weren’t currently kissing her. She no longer has a black cloud following her every move, afraid Kara will leave her once she finds out the truth. Kara knows, and loves Lena anyway. She loves her for _her_. And when the rather predictable phone call comes from Detective Danvers, requesting Stupendousgirl’s assistance with an alien-related case, Kara doesn’t have to make up a fake excuse. Lena earns major girlfriend points for being so understanding, which she will be sure to collect on, on a night when the kids are away at sleepovers.

Kara still looks a bit concerned, however. “You’ll be okay here with the kids? And the pets?”

“_Pfffffbt._” Lena waves her hand dismissively. “Please. We’re all friends here now.” This is only partly true, as the pets have been pretty chill with her lately. The kids, on the other hand, seem generally not to even notice Lena when she’s around. Which is preferable to them resenting her presence, replacing their dad as she sort of has, so Lena counts that as a win.

Kara beams, kisses her once more, and gets up from the couch to ruffle James Jr.’s hair. She kisses the top of Betty’s head, then heads up the stairs to change into her Stupendous suit. In a few moments, she’ll blast off from an upstairs window.

Lena smirks. The neighbors surely know. 

A red and blue blur flits by the window, announcing Mom’s departure. As if on cue, James Jr. gets up from the hardwood floor where he’s been attending Betty’s tea party—if it can be called attending when your true purpose is to fasten a toga out of a bed sheet and pin it onto a pig—and plops down on the couch next to Lena.

She restrains her eyebrow from naturally quirking upward in surprise. Surely he’s not there to bask in her company. He doesn’t even look at her, just reaches for the remote and turns on the TV. Switches channels to the ball game. The Yankees are losing. Again.

Lena looks from the TV to James Jr., then back again. This is her chance to bond with him. She should take it. Kara will be pleased. She looks at the box score. “There’s two periods left. I’m sure they can make a comeback.”

James Jr. gives her a sidelong glance, then fixes his eyes on the screen. “They’re seven runs down.”

Lena affects a knowledgeable air. “One touchdown and they’ll be back in it.”

He looks her in the eye, and smiles. Lena thrills that she’s actually managing to fake her way through a conversation about baseball, one of the few things in life she knows nothing about.

“My aunt Alex knows six ways to kill someone using her index finger.”

Lena just stares at him. “Er . . .” Perhaps she heard him wrong?

“But don’t worry. If you hurt my mom, I won’t let Aunt Alex kill you.” He gives her a pointed look, then gets up off the couch.

Her jaw drops. _ Did I just get a shovel talk from an eight-year-old? _

He moves toward the back door. Charlotte (in her toga), Rover (a Met cap perched sideways on his head), and Punkie (looking fly in a hoodie) get up from the circle of Betty’s tea party and follow him out. Soon barking and joyful squealing can be heard from the backyard.

Lena pulls herself together. She’ll process this later, and perhaps amend her life insurance policy. She looks down at Betty, who seems oblivious her big brother just threatened Lena’s life. Instead, Betty seems a bit sad some of her guests have left the party prematurely. Lena slides off the couch and scoots closer.

“Hey,” she whispers. “I know I haven’t been invited, but, mind if I crash?”

Betty looks up at her, seems to think a moment, then hands her Punkie’s teacup. Lena looks across the circle at the unused, pristine cup just sitting there on the floor. It must be reserved for some other, more esteemed guest. Well, that’s to be expected, being at the bottom of the social hierarchy, as Lena’s only been around for a short while. She scrutinizes her cup. There’s some brown liquid still in it. Punkie’s leftovers. Hmmm . . . Would Betty know if she just _ pretended _ to drink it? Probably. Kara’s kids are smart. Well. As much as Lena abhors dog germs, she’s prepared to do almost anything to be part of Kara’s family, and not hurting Betty’s feelings certainly qualifies. Lena takes a subtle sniff. It smells like apple juice. She _ hopes _ it’s apple juice. She hunts around the rim for a spot Punkie hasn’t licked. Finding one just big enough to accommodate her mouth, she carefully takes a sip. Thank God. It _ is _ apple juice. “Mmm. This tea is just lovely.”

Her heart warms as Betty beams and offers her more. Lena holds out her cup and waits as Betty pours from the teapot. “Thank you, sweetheart.”

Betty refills the other guests’ cups. Alfred sits patiently wearing his Batman kerchief, a plastic cowboy hat sits on Minnie’s head, and Comet proudly sports a red tablecloth tied around his neck. Lena scans the room for Harry Potter, who is suspiciously absent. She still regards him with a smidgen of suspicion, so she can’t truly _ fully _ relax until she knows his whereabouts.

A homemade peanut butter cookie is next thrust at her. Lena accepts it with gracious thanks.

“Mommy’s really happy now,” says Betty, as if this has been the topic of conversation at the tea party all along. “She was sad when Daddy left but now she’s happy.”

Lena holds back a huge grin. “Your mommy makes me happy, too.”

Betty distributes pieces of peanut butter cookie to the rest of the guests. Lena smiles at the little girl’s restraint, giving the pets treats, but in moderation.

“Mommy makes everybody happy. Except Daddy.”

Lena takes a bite of her cookie, not sure what she should say to that. “Mmm.”

“And sometimes Aunt Alex is mad at her but not long.”

Lena chews her cookie slowly, thoughtfully. Perhaps Detective Danvers has softened her stance on Lena since the Met Gala. She swallows. “Does your aunt Alex like _me?”_

Betty doesn’t say anything. Perhaps too honest to lie, too polite to tell the truth.

Harry Potter slithers out from under the sofa and sidles up to Betty. She exclaims with joy, hugs him, and presents him with the untouched teacup.

*

It’s morning on Earth-38.

Lena had worked hard on calibrating the interdimensional extrapolator, visiting multiple Earths each day. She’d taken copious notes, was almost caught twice, and talked her way out of potential trouble once, when upon materializing into an empty boardroom at Other L-Corp, the room had quickly filled up with department heads expecting Lena to lead the quarterly budget meeting. Thinking fast, Lena had done just that, grateful for her predictable office attire, as Other-CEO-Lena had waltzed in just then wearing an almost identical white blouse and black pencil skirt. Other-CEO-Lena quirked an eyebrow in astonishment, then—surely used to the concept of interdimensional globetrotting from her dealings with her own Kara, whatever they were to each other on this Earth—swiftly stepped back out of the room so no one would be the wiser. (Lena could still spy her doppelgänger’s outline lurking just outside, evidently making sure Lena wouldn’t screw up her meeting.)

After everyone had filed out, Other-CEO-Lena stealthily popped back into the room for a chat. Now Lena is friends with herself on multiple Earths. (She didn’t luck out with another potential good mother, though—this Earth’s Lillian Luthor had gone up in literal flames years ago, in a blaze of xenophobic glory.)

Now Lena’s back in her private lab, having made enough tweaks to the interdimensional extrapolator that she stands an excellent chance of making it to the correct Earth. As for her chances of arriving in the exact right spot, intention plays no small part. Lena thinks about where she should go. The Alice in Wonderland sculpture? It’s Friday, just after nine a.m. Noonish in New York on Earth-Y. If her doppelgänger is keeping to her habits, she might be there right this very moment. In all probability, however, so will Other Kara. Lena doubts her doppelgänger will have had the <strike>stupidity</strike> courage to confess to Other Kara yet, that she isn’t the Lena Kara had first gone out with. While Lena’s usually a proponent of honesty in a relationship, a certain amount of deception is allowable, even expected, in the beginning.

For instance, everyone knows you don’t tell someone you’re into about your mommy issues right off the bat. Or that your brother is a murderous psychopath. (Although, to be frank, Lena would have had to search far and wide to date someone who didn’t already know that.) So her doppelgänger can probably be forgiven for allowing the relationship with Other Kara to cement, before confessing it had begun under shady circumstances.

Therefore, Lena doesn’t fancy suddenly popping out onto a bench by the sculpture and potentially ruining things for her and Kara’s doppelgängers—mid-kiss, quite possibly—after all the hard work she’s put into getting them together.

She decides to aim for LuthorCorp’s lab.

She’d been there before. Everyone there had seemed quite nice. Except for that one fellow. Lehrman? Sherman? Lena can’t quite remember. He’d made a dumb crack about Lena being on the road to losing all her marbles, just like her brother, just because she’d ‘forgotten’ her keycard. But Josh had smiled and waved at her. And Elaine had kindly come over and smoothed down Lena’s collar, which had gotten turned up by the wind. Although, not before Lehrman/Sherman had made a dumb crack about Lena looking like a vampire. So, Other Lena has some nice friends at LuthorCorp. 

And a potential enemy.

As it’s probably not a good idea to materialize somewhere where a potential enemy might see her—perhaps wearing a totally different outfit than Other Lena had on that morning, or perhaps as Other Lena herself waltzes in—Lena decides to intend to come out onto Earth-Y in a somewhat secluded area of Central Park. Near the Alice sculpture, behind the bushes, so no one will see her suddenly appear out of nowhere and think they took too much of their medication. She’ll approach the sculpture warily, and look out for her doppelgänger, and for Other Kara.

She opens a drawer and takes out the Yankee cap she’d bought in New York. (It didn’t take too much deliberation to choose that over the Met cap—Lena likes winners.) She sets it on her head, low over her eyes. Next she puts on her sunglasses. Thus disguised, she takes up the interdimensional extrapolator and opens a breach. A moment later she’s enveloped by a ball of brilliant blue energy.

She pops out onto Earth-Y at the Conservatory Water, behind the restrooms, where no one has any reason to be except for the occasional member of park staff.

A lady—decidedly not park staff—leans against the back of the small building, sneaking a smoke. They stare at each other.

The woman drops her cigarette to the ground. She zips open her purse, pulls out a pill bottle, and quickly skims the label. Perhaps perusing the possible side effects, that perchance she’s never bothered to pay attention to before.

“Oh no, no, no . . .” The lady clambers over the short brick wall and hurries to the nearest bench. She lies down and closes her eyes, probably meaning to sleep off the supposed hallucinations.

Lena grounds the cigarette butt into the dirt, then slips away, feeling only somewhat guilty. _ It could have been worse. _She makes her way to the north end of the pond, looking like any other tourist or New Yorker walking the path, lounging on a bench, or having a nice meal on the patio of the boathouse. A few children maneuver rented model boats, mostly ignoring the ducks gliding contentedly through the water. 

Half a dozen geese perch on the stone lip of the pond, catching some sun. A small boy about Betty’s age approaches them with his palm out, pretending to share a snack. The birds deftly evade his touch, eventually escaping into the water.

His nanny quickly comes to collect him, and she and Lena exchange knowing looks and smiles. Lena continues on her way, enjoying the sun, the rather strong breeze, and the sweet scents of fir and flowers.

She carefully approaches the stone steps leading to the Alice in Wonderland sculpture, immediately spotting Other Betty—as well as a handful of other children and one fully grown tourist—clambering over Alice and the rest of her tea party. A few moms sit on the benches to the left, and shrubs on the right hand side obscure Lena’s view. Slowly rounding the brush, she spies her doppelgänger and Other Kara sitting on a bench, holding hands while watching the children, and stealing kisses when the kids and the other mothers aren’t looking.

So, they’re still together. Lena lets out a breath she hadn’t even realized she was holding.

Suddenly Kara turns her head to look off into the distance—as does Betty—and Lena just knows they’ve heard someone cry out for help.

Other Lena seems disappointed, then affects an air of nonchalance. So, this Kara hasn’t confided in Other Lena yet, either. 

Without <strike>super</strike> stupendous hearing, Lena can’t make out what Kara tells her doppelgänger, but she seems to make an excuse. They say their goodbyes—and kiss again hurriedly—then Kara collects Betty before scurrying behind the bushes.

A blur of red and blue flits through the sky, so fast that if one weren’t expecting it, one might attribute it to momentary disorientation. Heatstroke, perhaps. Or too much medication.

Pulling her Yankee cap further down over her eyes, Lena makes her way into the area and approaches her doppelgänger.

Other Lena looks up. Her expression turns to one of surprise, then joy. She jumps up and gives Lena a hug. “I’ve been wondering when next I might see you.”

Lena looks around warily, but none of the other mothers or tourists are paying them any attention. She sits down on the bench with Other Lena. “I finally made it to the correct Earth. You have no idea how many iterations of us I’ve seen.”

“I can’t imagine.” Other Lena smirks. “Although I assume we all dress alike?”

“Pretty much.” Lena laughs at all the white blouses and pencil skirts she’s seen. “Once I get back I’ll make a duplicate of the device for you. It has communication functionality, so in the future we can plan where and when to meet. I won’t have to go in blind. Pop out in a public place. Give people heart attacks.” She thinks back to that poor lady, and hopes she’s all right.

Her doppelgänger nods. “Next time you can come out near me. I live on a quiet side street. My next door neighbor—who’s hardly ever home—has a basement entrance. You could pop out onto the landing and just walk up the steps. No one would ever know.”

“Where do you live?” Lena pulls out her phone, and her doppelgänger takes it and types her address into Lena’s contacts. She then pulls up a street view and shows Lena the sidewalk with the secluded landing, as well as her own apartment. 

“I’ll tie a handkerchief around the door handle if I’ve got Kara over.”

It’s Lena’s turn to smirk. “How very college roommate of you.”

“You should probably come after eleven-thirty at night my time.” Other Lena blushes. “I usually don’t get back from Kara’s till then. If I come home at all.”

Lena’s smirk softens into a smile. “So it’s going well, then?” 

Other Lena gives her a sheepish grin. “I’m thinking of skipping over asking to move in together and heading right to proposing marriage.”

Lena laughs a moment, before sobering. “Don’t you think . . . oughtn’t you to tell her our secret first? And perhaps wait until Kara tells you hers?”

“We did.” Other Lena suddenly looks so damn happy, perhaps reliving the moment. “She knew. And I told her I knew. I had worried for nothing.”

“She knew it was me the entire time?” Lena stares at her doppelgänger. Was Other Kara having some fun with her, flashing her abs like that? 

Other Lena shakes her head. “She knew when I disappeared and she was suddenly alone on the sofa. She’s been to other Earths. She pretended the energy that took you away affected her, too, almost as if she were in a trance. So I wouldn’t be forced to make up some excuse, or to confess. Although I wondered if perhaps you were just a fabulous kisser.”

“I mean, I _am_.” Lena wiggles an eyebrow. “How are things with the kids? And the pets?”

“We’re growing closer all the time. Harry Potter_ loves_ me, and Minnie’s only pooped on me twice.”

Lena laughs. “Rodents do tend to do that, until they feel comfortable with you.” She’s ecstatic for her doppelgänger, if a little sad for herself, to be good friends with Cat, with so long of his life still to live.

She reaches behind her, to subtly knock on the green wooden bench for luck. “And the—”

“Not that I don’t want to stay and chat more . . .” Other Lena looks down at her watch, and Lena wonders if her doppelgänger’s purposely avoiding talking about Kara’s kids. “I’m supposed to go meet my mom for lunch. You know she—”

“Despises tardiness, yes.” They smile at each other. Lena hesitates, then decides not to ask about the kids again just yet. She _ does _ want to ask if she might go see Lillian in Other Lena’s place, just to get some Good Mom love . . . but really, she shouldn’t impose.

“Do you want to go in my stead?” 

Lena starts. “Don’t you want to see her?”

“Of course, but I get to see her all the time. I was thinking you might need . . .” Other Lena trails off, and looks uncomfortably down at her lap. “I’m sorry, I don’t know anything about your mother, except that she’s in prison. I just thought . . .” She looks back up at Lena. “My mom, yeah, she can be overbearing, but she has a really good heart. She would never intentionally hurt someone. I mean, she can’t even bring herself to fire Berman.”

Lena laughs in solidarity. “He’s the worst.”

“Isn’t he?” Other Lena smiles. “Oh, here’s the ingredients in Punkie’s dog food you asked me to get.” She takes a folded sheet of paper out of her pocket and hands it to her.

Lena opens what turns out to be stationery, monogrammed with a subtle, elegant LL. Underneath, her doppelgänger’s written out a list in flowery script, and added a note of encouragement—_Good luck with your farting dog!_—as well as a smiley face.

Lena grins. _Thank God._ She and Kara have tried everything they could think of to lessen Punkie’s malodorous, loud presence in every room he enters. Perhaps now nothing will overpower his sweetness. She folds the well-creased note again—it seems Other Lena’s carried this in her pocket for weeks, just waiting for Lena to show up again—and tucks it into her purse. “Thank you so much. Is that how Kara found out? She saw you writing the ingredients down?”

Her doppelgänger smirks. Lena starts to wonder if they do that too often. “She saw, but I told her it was for a friend with a farting dog problem. She was impressed at how thoughtful I am. I’m not going to tell you how that worked out for me in the bedroom that night.”

Lena laughs. Awkwardly. “No, please don’t. This is all weird enough as it is.”

“One last thing before you go . . . You might want to show off your undercut a bit. Mom probably thinks I’ve been being all weird lately about her touching my hair, so perhaps you should act casual about it, so she doesn’t start to get suspicious.” 

Lena nods and looks around warily, but no one is watching them. She takes off her cap and sunglasses and hands them to her doppelgänger.

Other Lena glances down at the cap, then dutifully puts it on, along with the glasses. “I see you have a thing for lovable losers.”

Lena quirks an eyebrow. “I thought . . . On my Earth that’s the Mets.”

Her doppelgänger shrugs. “All I know is that Elaine’s a long-suffering Yankees fan, and seven months of the year Josh proudly wears a Mets jersey underneath his lab coat.”

Lena takes a barrette out of her purse and fastens it to her hair, making sure her undercut is obvious—

“Maybe not _that_ obvious.” Other Lena redoes Lena’s part for her, which takes a good minute, given the strong breeze. She clips the barrette back in place. “You don’t want to be too ‘in your face’ about it.”

She looks back at her watch. “You should hurry. Otherwise you’ll be late and she’ll have ordered you the salmon.”

*

Lena approaches the restaurant on Third Ave, nervously patting her hair, checking once more to make sure she’s tucked her wedding and engagement rings into her purse. She looks up to see Lillian waving at her from one of the outdoor tables, looking as excited to see her as if she hasn’t seen her all month, either. It soothes some sad, lonely part of her every time this Lillian expresses love to her daughter, and by extension, to her.

“Lena, darling!”

Lena leans down to kiss her mom’s cheek, and gratefully accepts a hug. As they withdraw, Lillian reaches to push a few stray strands of hair out of Lena’s eyes. She looks at Lena’s undercut—

And Lena’s heart speeds up. Should she have stepped back and acted ‘all weird’ about her hair, to keep the behavior Lillian witnesses in her daughter consistent? Has she just made their mom suspicious?

But Lillian just lets out a resigned sigh, probably at the fact the undercut still exists—although her expression turns hopeful, perhaps as she’s noticed Lena’s allowing it to grow out. Lena lets out a relieved breath of her own.

Lillian smirks—but it’s a kind one, such as one might make at a joke between friends, not a cruel one like Lena’s real mom routinely exhibits. “You’re just in time. I was about to order you the salmon.”

Lena sits down across from her. “You can order me the salmon. I don’t mind.” It would actually be worth it, to get approval from her preferred mom.

Lillian shakes her head. “As much as I want you to be healthy, dear, I do want you to enjoy yourself in my company.” 

“I always enjoy your company, Mom.”

Lillian looks touched, but she has no idea how much Lena means it. They spend the next half hour savoring their food (they compromise, with Lena having a few bites of Lillian’s salmon) and chatting, thankfully about nothing too incriminating. Lena deftly fields questions about her new project in the lab, how things are going with Kara, and whether she thinks Kara would enjoy an appetizer of asparagus spears if they were wrapped in prosciutto. Lena smiles at how her mom is basically tricking her girlfriend into eating her vegetables, and—

Lillian is staring at Lena’s right hand. 

Lena sets down her wine glass and subtly pulls her hands under the table, out of sight. She nervously twirls her thumb ring. Dammit. She should have remembered to take it off. She’d forgotten all about it, focused as she was on her wedding and engagement rings. “Anything wrong, Mom?”

Lillian just smiles and shakes her head. “Nothing, dear. Just a silly thought.” She finishes her own wine and sets the glass down.

Their waiter appears again, twitching terribly, and Lena almost smiles at how afraid he is of her mother. Her mother, who yes, can be overbearing, and pretty much lords over everyone, evident even from Lena’s mere two days of her acquaintance. But she just knows this Lillian wouldn’t ever hurt anyone, and truly cares for others.

Lillian looks at him, and he smiles uneasily. “Thank you, Charles. We’ll each have a coffee. I’ll have the tarte au pomme fine, and my daughter—”

She turns back to Lena, who shakes her head. “No dessert for me, Mom.”

“Two forks please, Charles.”

The waiter nods and practically apparates, so eager is he to comply with Lillian’s wishes, or, perhaps more likely, get out of her sight. Lillian smiles at Lena. “We’ll share the pie.” 

She takes a sip of her wine, as Lena jokes, “Can you also share the dress sizes I’ll somehow instantly go up?”

Lillian laughs—always a bad move while drinking. She starts to cough violently, setting down her glass.

“I’m sorry, Mom. I think I have a cough drop.” Lena guiltily hunts inside her purse, so once Lillian stops hacking she’ll be able to soothe her scratchy throat. She moves aside lipstick, mascara, tissues, wet wipes (kids are sticky), and an old _ Star Wars _ action figure Jack gave her outside the preschool the first time she dropped him off so she wouldn’t be lonely without him. She finally finds a cough drop at the bottom, its wrapper stuck by warmth and sunlight to a lollipop she’s been saving for when she needs a bribe for Betty. (Don’t judge her. It’s tough, being a mom.) As she separates the two candies and reaches to hand Lillian the cough drop, the paper Other Lena gave her dislodges and floats away in the breeze.

Lillian snags it before it can blow away, perhaps into another diner’s face, coughing all the while. She reaches to hold it out to Lena—

Before Lena can grab it, Lillian’s eyes focus on the writing—and obviously recognize it as her daughter’s handwriting. Lillian pulls the letter back just as Lena’s fingers close around empty air.

Lillian s-l-o-w-l-y reads the note, giving it the sort of focused attention normally only seen in crime scene investigators, bomb-sniffing dogs, and suspicious mothers. She lets out one last cough—the tone of which absolutely rings with accusation. Or maybe that’s Lena’s imagination. She desperately tries to come up with a plausible excuse for being in possession of a note written by herself, to herself. “Elaine in the lab just adopted a dog. A stinky dog. Farts all the time. One of Kara’s had that same problem before she switched dog food brands. He’s a similar breed”—technically not a lie, as Punkie seems to be comprised of all the breeds—“and I thought this might help Elaine out.” She fidgets . . . why wouldn’t she just give Elaine the name of the dog food brand, since they’re apparently all living in the same universe, and not on a parallel Earth where all the brands are different? “Elaine, er, likes to make all her food from scratch.” Damn, she sounds so dumb. Definitely not like the certified genius she apparently is.

Finally Lillian looks away from the letter. And smiles. A chill goes down Lena’s spine.

“That Elaine. I’ve always liked her. So sweet and helpful. Always insisting on assisting at any and all LuthorCorp events. Even when we partnered with the SPCA for their adoption extravaganza. Do you remember?” Her eyes narrow. “How horrendously she was sneezing all day?”

Lena nervously takes a gulp of her own wine, desperately hoping to choke on it to get out of this uncomfortable situation. Perhaps needing to be rushed to the hospital, where Lillian will accompany her in the ambulance—wringing her hands, telling Lena how much she loves her, and totally forgetting this conversation.

“That’s the magic of science, Mom.” Lena tries to affect an air of confidence, and fails miserably. “Elaine’s been working on a cure for pet allergies in her spare time.”

“Really? In the lab?” Lillian’s smile is almost evil. In this moment, she looks exactly like Lena’s _ real _ adoptive mom. “How wonderful. Then whatever she’s discovered will be proprietary. I’m sure it will earn LuthorCorp millions, as well as precipitate a spike in pet adoption nationwide. When might I inform the board this vaccine will be ready to go to clinical trials?”

Lena stares at her mom, at a loss for words. It seems all she does is create problems for her doppelgänger on this Earth. How the hell is she going to get Other Lena—and now Elaine as well—out of _ this? _

“I mean, I doubt it will be ready for mass production anytime soon. As far as I know, Elaine formulated it specifically to her own DNA—”

“You’re not _ my _ Lena, are you?” Lillian’s voice is gentle, oh so gentle and kind, but Lena shuts her eyes in horror all the same. She’s been found out, and this Lillian will no doubt reject her. Because she’s not really this Lillian’s daughter.

Just like her own Lillian always made it clear Lena wasn’t her real daughter. 

“May I ask . . . Are you a clone? Or . . .”

Lena draws in a deep breath. “I’m her doppelgänger. From another Earth. We accidentally switched places last month and decided to stay in touch.”

“So . . . that day you were late to lunch . . . When you ‘forgot’ we always lunch here on Fridays . . .”

“That was me,” Lena affirms, eyes still shut tight. “I’m sorry for not being honest with you. I was trying to get back to my own Earth, to my own daughter. My daughter with _ my _ Kara. I met this Earth’s Kara and it seemed she and your daughter liked each other, but each was afraid to ask the other out.”

Lillian lets out a sigh. “Cripplingly self-conscious? That does sound like my daughter.”

Lena attempts a commiserating laugh. It comes out sounding more like the pathetic cry of a wounded bird. “I thought if I pretended to be her and got them together, the spell would be broken, and we would get switched back. And you were so kind to me. On my Earth . . . Lillian and I aren’t close. She . . . she always saw me as a reminder that my father had been unfaithful to her.” Lena wipes away a tear that’s started to fall. “I just wanted to feel your kindness again. Your—” She cuts herself off, before she admits to wanting Lillian’s love. All she can hope for now is that Lillian will forgive her for tricking her, before sending her on her way.

A wooden chair scrapes against the sidewalk, and Lena flinches. Lillian’s just going to get up and walk away. So affronted, she’s going to go inside, pay the check, maybe take out her anger on poor Charles, and then walk out and away from Lena forever—

Warm arms suddenly encircle her. “Oh sweetheart,” says the gentle voice, and Lena breaks down in tears.

Lillian holds her awhile. It feels like a wonderful dream, a dream Lena’s had since she was four years old in her lonely room in the Luthor mansion. Eventually she summons the courage to open her eyes and make sure it’s real. Charles hovers anxiously in the doorway with their coffee and apple pie with ice cream, then turns and scuttles back inside the restaurant.

Gently, Lillian releases her. She reaches for her own purse, removes a tissue, and holds it out to her.

“Thank you,” Lena whispers, taking it and dabbing at her eyes, and discreetly blowing her nose. 

Lillian gives her a kind smile. “Lena darling, I . . . I know I’m not your real mother. But I would be delighted to be your _ honorary _mother, so to speak. If you’ll have me.”

Lena can barely nod, crying as she is once more, and Lillian softly pulls her into another embrace. The other restaurant patrons continue to pretend not to notice them. Charles materializes again—hopping up and down a few times with anxiety, apparently afraid the ice cream will melt and Lillian will yell at him—then disappears back inside. Birds in nearby trees tweet with joy, as Lena finally has the mother she’s always wanted, and all is right with the world.

At least in this universe.


	4. Chapter 4

Supergirl totes the usual pizza boxes, potstickers, and the listless salad into her wife’s office, unsurprised to see Lena missing once again. She changes into her Kara Danvers disguise and steps into the outer office.

“Hello, Kara. I like your bangs.”

“Oh, thanks! Yeah, Lena actually suggested it.” Kara fiddles with her hair, giggling, thinking of all the other things Lena suggested during their last work ‘lunch.’ “I guess she’s still tinkering with that device?” Jess nods, and Kara realizes . . . “Oops. I, um, left the food on her desk again.”

Jess doesn’t even pause in her typing. “Honestly, Kara, it’s none of my business what you two get up to in there.”

“What we get _up to_, is lunch,” Kara insists, and—oh, why does she bother? It’s practically impossible to pull the wool over Jess’s eyes. She makes her way back into Lena’s office to grab the food, then comes back out to make googly eyes at Bella, who’s awake today and as happy as ever. Finally Kara tears herself away from her newest Superbaby and makes her way to the elevator.

She decides to take another stab at Jess while she waits for it to ascend. “Er, you haven’t thought any more about calling Lena _Lena_, have you?”

Jess sighs, a long, drawn out sigh meant to convey worlds of annoyance. Or, perhaps, universes. “I’ve been rather preoccupied keeping Mrs. Luthor-Danvers sane, what with everything going on around here.”

The elevator announces its arrival, and as Kara steps inside she can’t help but press. “Yeah, but like, maybe when you get a chance, during a light-hearted moment. Like, ‘That’s a lovely blouse, _Lena_, did Kara buy it for you?’” The doors start to close and Kara sticks her hand out to stop them. “‘You and Kara have such an adorable baby, _Lena_, I could honestly eat her up with a spoon.’”—_PING!_—“‘Don’t you think, _Lena_, you might do with something more substantial to eat than a mere salad?’”—_PING! PING! PING!—_“All right, I’m going!” she addresses the annoyed elevator, withdrawing her arm, hitting the floor for Lena’s favorite lab, relieved to see Jess’s face turn somewhat thoughtful as the doors close.

A minute later she’s downstairs. Lena’s once more bent over the nearest workstation, and Kara takes a few controlled breaths to focus and let go of inappropriate, naughty, very exciting thoughts. She sets the pizza boxes and the potstickers and the pointless salad on the tabletop, slides her arms around her wife’s waist, and squeezes gently.

“Sweetheart. Is it lunchtime already?”

“It is.” Kara squeezes her wife just a bit tighter. Lena’s been so happy since she got back from Earth-Y. Since Other Lillian asked if she could be her honorary mother. “You must have calibrated this thing to death, with all the time you’ve been spending on it. Looking for more good versions of your mom?”

Lena tears herself away from the extrapolator, to turn in Kara’s arms and give her a kiss. “I’m building another for my doppelgänger, so she can come visit us as well.”

The intercom on Lena’s workstation buzzes. _ “Mrs. Luthor-Danvers. Turn on the news. It’s urgent.” _

Lena reaches for the remote, and Kara lets go to give her wife room. Lena hits the intercom button. “Which channel?”

_“Any will do.”_

The TV hanging on the far wall flashes to life. A reporter stands outside the Southern California Facility for Women. _ “—complaining of chest pains, she was held in the infirmary overnight for observation, where a guard only discovered her disappearance a short while ago, when the nurse was found, knocked out, on the infirmary floor.” _

Lena’s breath hitches, and Kara quickly moves to hold her again. They stare in shock as the reporter shares further details of Lillian’s escape. 

_ “I repeat, Lillian Luthor is considered extremely dangerous, armed or not. Anyone encountering the fugitive is strongly advised to flee, find safety, and to immediately contact the police.” _

“I can’t believe this is happening.” Lena’s voice is barely above a whisper.

Kara reaches for the remote to turn off the TV, then guides her wife to a rolling chair and sets her softly down. She crouches in front of her, her hands caressing her knees. “Don’t worry, babe. They’ll find her. _ I’ll _ find her. I’ll go grab the kids from school and then I’ll be right on her tail. Our house is almost as secure as Fort Knox, she won’t be able to get to them there.”

Lena hides her face in her hands. “When I told you I wanted to work on my relationship with my mother, I meant on our weekly prison visits. I never _dreamed_—”

“Shh, it’s okay.” Kara takes Lena’s hands, brings them down to her lap and squeezes gently. “It’ll be okay.”

Lena nods and takes a deep breath. “I’m all right. I’ll _ be _ all right. You’ve got to go, sweetheart.”

Kara bites her lip. She doesn’t really want to leave her wife alone when she’s this vulnerable, but they’ve discussed over and over again what to do if Lillian should ever escape. She reaches to give Lena a kiss on the forehead before standing. “You sure you’re all right? We have time for me to take you and Bella home first before I—”

Lena shakes her head. “I’m fine, darling, I promise. I was just caught off guard. You’ve got to go get Jack and Betty. It will take me a minute to lock up but we’ll meet you at home shortly.”

Kara hesitates, then nods and heads to the elevator. She’ll make her way to the top floor and exit from the balcony, as she can’t very well sign out of the building, having not signed in to begin with.

*

Supergirl arrives at Betty’s preschool in a flash, changing into her cardigan and slacks—_Whoops! Almost forgot the glasses!_—before heading inside and taking her daughter out of class. She doesn’t even have to explain; the police have already alerted the school office. She and Betty speed off to collect Jack, then fly home to sequester themselves inside and wait for Lena to join them.

*

Lena parks in the driveway of their black and purple house, and if it didn’t seem sinister before, it does now, with armed guards and attack dogs patrolling the perimeter. She sighs and gets out of the car. The nearest dog snarls and barks at her, showing huge, sharp teeth. Lena shudders. She’s now surely going to have to explain to Betty why they can’t adopt a nice big Doberman, or a German Shepherd.

She lifts out Bella’s car seat and they make their way to the house, Bella gurgling happily, totally oblivious to her evil grandmother’s latest act of thoughtless villainy. Lena submits to the fingerprint and retinal scans that now block her normal access. She and Kara had always had extra security measures set up to be operational at a moment’s notice. They had just prayed they’d never have to use them. But they’d feared this moment. As much as Lillian wants her freedom, she loves her grandchildren, and they wouldn’t put it past her to attempt to kidnap them.

As soon as she steps into the house, Betty runs up to her, squealing joyfully, and Charlotte immediately joins in. Betty attaches herself to Lena’s knees. “Mummy and Jelly Belly are home! And we got to leave school early!”

Still in her Super suit, Kara zips over and takes Bella and her carrier off Lena’s hands. Lena crouches to pick up Betty and give the pets that have swarmed over to greet her scritches and scratches. She stands to carry her daughter into the living room, where Jack sits on the couch, watching _ Incredibles IV _ on the TV. 

Kara enters and puts Bella in her playpen, then turns to their older daughter, picking her up and swinging her around. “Betty Boo, why don’t you go play with Charlotte and everybody in your room. Mummy and I need to talk to your brother awhile.”

Betty’s eyes go wide. “Is Jack in trouble?”

“No one’s in trouble.” Kara kisses her forehead, then sets her down. “Nothing’s wrong, baby. It’s just a grown-up thing.”

Betty stares at Jack in awe, as he’s apparently graduated to grown-up status faster than she thought. He nods to her in reassurance and gestures up the stairs. With Jack’s say-so, Betty happily blasts off to her room, a horde of furry bodies trailing her, trying to catch up. 

Lena takes a deep breath and turns off the TV. She and Kara sit down on either side of their son. Lena puts a gentle hand on his knee. “Jackie, sweetheart, we have something to tell—”

“Grandma escaped. I know.”

Lena stares at him. “How—how did you—”

“Charlie has an iPhone now.”

She restrains herself from commenting on Mrs. Hagglebottom’s questionable judgement, letting an eight-year-old with a vulnerable human brain carry around an iPhone all day. Now is not the time. (And honestly, poor Charles. With his dad hardly ever visiting, no wonder his mother caves to all his desires.)

Thankfully Kara isn’t thinking about the neighbors’ problems, as they have enough of their own right now. “Jack, your mum and I think it’s better if your sister doesn’t find out about Grandma. I’ll be going shortly to help Aunt Alex and Uncle J’onn bring her back, and—”

“Betty would be glad Grandma’s out and think she’ll come visit us,” Jack cuts in. “She’ll be real upset if Grandma has to go back to jail.”

Lena bites her lip, and even Kara hesitates before nodding. “Exactly. You . . . you _ do _ realize why she has to go back, don’t you?”

“Sure,” says Jack, but the look on his face says otherwise.

Lena attempts to rationalize the situation. “We know you love her, sweetheart. But Grandma did some very bad things—”

“That was before you and Mom had me. And then Betty. And now Bella.” Jack crosses his arms over his chest, in a gesture Lena and Kara know only too well. He definitely inherited his stubborn streak from the both of them. “She wouldn’t do those things anymore. She just wouldn’t.”

“You’re right, she wouldn’t.” Lena tilts her head. Lillian _ probably _ wouldn’t. Not because she’s rehabilitated herself—prison has had nothing to do with it. It was all her grandchildren’s doing, her love for them despite their alien DNA. “But that’s not the way our justice system works, Jackie. Grandma has to face the consequences of her actions.”

Jack nods, but doesn’t look convinced, which isn’t surprising. They know exactly where his heart and head are at. “Are we not going to get to go to school anymore?”

Kara shoots a nervous glance at Lena, before returning her attention to their son and squeezing his shoulder. “We all agreed it’s safer for both you and your sister, and the other children, if we keep you at home for now. Your teachers will e-mail your homework and lessons. I’ll be mostly working with the DEO, but your mum will stay home.”

Jack rolls his eyes at what he obviously considers a hysterical overreaction to his beloved grandmother letting herself out of prison. “Can Charlie still come over?”

Lena softly squeezes his knee. “It’s probably not a good idea, Jackie. I doubt his mom would be for it, anyway.” She attempts a laugh—as they all know how unreasonable Charles’ mom can be—but no sound comes out. “You can still call him every day. On his iPhone.” She forces herself not to frown. “And all this won’t be for long, surely.”

Jack’s eyes narrow; he obviously understands they believe Lillian will be recaptured soon. “Can I go play with everybody now?”

Lena and Kara nod, both touching him, trying to communicate all will be well, trying to believe it themselves. Jack stands and immediately blasts off upstairs, and Lena lets out a resigned sigh at the fact that neither of her older children can be bothered to just _ walk _ around the house anymore. Soon feverish barking announces his entry into Betty’s room.

Kara scoots close to Lena on the couch and takes her hands in hers, and Lena can finally let her frustration out. “We should have alerted the authorities after Mom’s little speech to Betty over the phone. Remember? When she was upset over Bella being in the NICU?” 

“What would we have said to them?” Kara laughs, but there’s no mirth in it. “‘We think Lillian’s planning a breakout, based solely on the obvious _ code words _ she used when she comforted our daughter?’ They would have thought us paranoid. With good reason.”

Lena slides out of Kara’s hold and gets up, too full of frantic energy to sit on the couch any longer. She paces around the room. “I knew it. I _knew_ she was planning something.”

Kara stands and moves to hold her. To comfort her as best she can. Lena allows herself to still and enjoy her wife’s embrace. She doesn’t really want to let go, _ever_ really, but Lillian could be miles away by now. She pulls reluctantly away.

Her wife gently takes Lena’s face in her hands. “Are you sure you’ll all be okay at home till I get back? The police and the DEO can probably—”

Lena shakes her head, taking her wife’s hands and drawing them down. Still not letting go, though. “We’ll be fine, darling. You should get going. You’re the DEO’s best chance of finding her, after all.”

Kara kisses Lena’s forehead. “Don’t you worry. I’m sure Winn’s already on her tail.”

*

“We don’t have a clue in the Multiverse where Lillian could be.”

All hyperbole as usual, Winn swivels in his chair as Alex paces along the concrete floor. Kara sighs. Why is everyone in her family a pacer? She’s going to get dizzy watching them. J’onn says nothing for the moment, staring at the screen and frowning.

Winn turns back to the screen and jabs a finger at the marked locations. “Our agents were on Lex Luthor’s and Cadmus’s known hideouts like fleas on a dog. Uh—not, not any of _ your _ dogs. I’ve never had a problem with any of your dogs when I’ve babysat the—”

“Every site was clear,” breaks in Alex, fuming, obviously bewildered at Lillian’s odd disappearance. “No sign of use in years. We’ve had every satellite running facial recognition, and nothing. She may as well have disappeared off the face of the Earth.”

“Not for long.” Kara sticks her hands on her hips in her most confident pose. “I didn’t spend my time at the prison just pretending to make nice with her. I memorized her heartbeat. I’ll be back with her before dinner.”

And on that note of reassurance, Supergirl blasts off into the sky, ready to haul in some Luthor butt and bounce her right back into her prison cell. 

Without library privileges, to boot. Hah! 

*

A few weeks later, they still haven’t captured Lena’s mom. They’ve had agents lying low at all the old known Cadmus hideouts, at all of Lex’s lairs, just in case Lillian comes crawling back. But Lillian has at least had the courtesy to stay underground.

Kara calls home one night, long past dinner, long after Lena and the kids and the pets have finished watching _ The Secret Life of Pets 5_ on DVD for the twenty-seventh time since it came out. Long after Lena has again nursed Bella, burped her, and sung her lullabies (with accompanying harmonies from the kids, both of who have inherited Kara’s angelic singing voice, and the dogs, who have not). Long after Lena has finally gotten Bella to fall asleep and laid her down in her crib (and marveled once again at what a blessing she is). 

Long after she’s tucked the kids and their dogs into bed and read Betty and Comet three bedtime stories, made sure the goldfish has been fed, and finally settled down to get some work done on her lap—“Punkie, what have you got in your mouth? _Let me see._” Long after she’s chased Punkie through the living room and the kitchen and up the stairs and back—which of course set all the other pets off, as this was surely a game they were playing. Long after she’s finally tackled him and pried open his mouth and plucked out the contraband gummy worm one of the kids must’ve smuggled into the house. 

Long after she’s gone back to hold Bella and soothe her and sing to her some more, as the racket has woken and upset her. Long after she’s tucked the kids and their dogs back into bed and read Betty and Comet three more bedtime stories. Long after she’s laid sprawled out at the top of the stairs, wrecked, with Wally and Petunia laying their heads on her stomach in solidarity. 

Right during a nice fantasy she’s now having about what a nice, quiet life without children or pets might have looked like, envying Other Lena’s previous existence and regretting screwing that up for her.

_ “Hey!” _ says Kara. _ “How was your night?” _

Lena attempts to put up a good front. “Oh, you know, the usual.”

Kara laughs. She’s familiar with their usual. _ “That bad, huh?” _

Lena can’t help but smile. Her wife can usually get her to smile, regardless of what’s happening. “Will you be home soon? I desperately need to cuddle with someone taller than me, who doesn’t have scales or fur.”

Kara sighs resignedly._ “You know I want to, babe. We were looking for Lillian and found an active Cadmus site. We’ve mostly taken everyone down but there are some hot leads I need to follow up. I’ll still be a while. You should go to bed. You need your rest.” _

Does Lena ever.

Although she needs her wife more.

She finally finishes getting a head start on her work for tomorrow. She takes off Turtle’s skates and settles him into his cage for the night, says goodnight to Alfred before he starts off on his nighttime prowl, and by the time she’s changed into her pajamas, taken down her hair and emerged from the bathroom, Punkie and Minerva and Charlotte are already in bed waiting for her. She gets in with her furry snuggle buddies and closes her eyes—

And wakes up to Charlotte rooting in her armpit—squealing non-stop—and Minerva licking her face. Even Alfred is up on the bed and pawing at her.

Lena props herself up on her pillow. “What’s wrong, guys? Did you all have the same bad dream?”

But they don’t stop, and she suddenly realizes Punkie isn’t in bed, or anywhere in the room. Which is odd. Unless—

Punkie appears in the doorway, barking frantically.

Lena jumps out of bed and dashes to the baby’s room. 

It’s empty.

She should’ve known, as Charlotte and Minerva and Alfred and Punkie are waiting for her at the top of the stairs, barking and squealing and mewling with alarm.

Lena races to them and they all run down the stairs together. 

Rover, Comet, Wally and Petunia surround Bella as she gurgles happily on her play mat. The dogs lift their muzzles off the mat to gaze innocently at their human mom as she hits the ground floor and stares at the scene in shock. 

Lena’s own mom looks up from her position on her hand and knees—a horse to Betty’s rider, Betty holding on to the back of Lillian’s black collar as if it were the pommel of a saddle. Lillian’s other hand stretches out, holding a black pawn, to counter Jack’s opening move on the family chess set.

“Darling. Hello. Did we wake you?”

Jack and Betty beam at Lena. “Granma’s home!” Betty softly nudges Lillian’s sides with her feet. “Giddyup!”

Lena opens her mouth to say something, but no sound comes out, as Turtle rolls out from underneath Lillian and Betty to hit the edge of the play mat.

Punkie, calm now because the kids are apparently fine, troops into the midst of things, maneuvering his shaggy butt in front of Lillian. As much as Lena’s relieved they’ve finally solved his flatulence problem, she can’t help but mourn their timing. What she wouldn’t give for her formerly stinky dog to let one rip right now, right in her mom’s face.

She gestures to Lillian’s all-black outfit. “I can see how you got past the guards and dogs in your ninja costume. But how did you get past our security system?”

Lillian smirks. “I doubt there’s a security system built yet that I can’t hack into.”

Lena scowls. Did her mom seriously make scans of her fingerprints and retina while she was growing up in the Luthor mansion, just for such an eventuality?

“My darlings,” says Lillian. “Why don’t you take Bella upstairs with you for a while? Your mother and I need to have a little chat.”

Jack gets up from his chair and lifts a reluctant Betty from Lillian’s back. He sets her on the floor and picks up Bella from the play mat, then launches them in the air. They fly up the stairs, with Betty blasting off after them, the pets dashing off in pursuit. (Except for poor Turtle, skating around on the floor, forgotten.)

They haven’t even turned the corner upstairs when Lena reaches for the downstairs phone to call Kara—

“I wouldn’t, if I were you,” her mother warns, standing, no longer looking like a gentle pony, but the dangerous felon she is. “The children are so happy I’m out, and here. Imagine how upset they would be if I were dragged back to prison. By you, no less.”

Lena clenches her fists, trying to keep her voice from shaking. “I can’t _ believe _ you’re using your grandchildren to escape justice. That’s low, even for you.”

Lillian sighs. “_Use _ is such an ugly word. It’s not like I’m using Betty as a human shield. _ Not _ that that’s something I would ever do,” she stresses, as she must see Lena’s about to go through the roof.

Her mom reaches out a conciliatory hand. “I understand your position, darling. But I’m asking you to look the other way, for the sake of the children. And for us as well. Could we really work on our relationship once a week, for a half hour at a time? From across a prison table?”

Lena deflates. She loves Other Lillian, but how often will she really get to see her? And she can’t introduce her children to her, that would just confuse them. Her children deserve a grandmother, and she . . . she deserves a mom, too. Whatever her mom is able to give her.

Lillian must see she’s starting to win Lena over. “I still don’t believe aliens should be allowed to run free on the Earth. But I realize the way I feel about them is the exact same way someone else may feel about my grandchildren. I would never do anything to hurt them, or to dishonor them. You have my word that neither I, nor Cadmus if I have anything to say about it, will ever go after Supergirl, or Superman, or any other alien ever again.” 

Her mom doesn’t even shudder, or grimace, as Lena’s sure she would have years ago, and she can’t help but believe her. Lena can tell she’s about to cave, because deep down she’s weak, not strong like Kara—

Supergirl suddenly floats down from the stairway. She must have flown into their bedroom, seen it empty, and known something was wrong. “You know we can’t let you go, Lillian.” She tenses, about to put on a burst of super speed and collar Lena’s mom—

Lillian calmly reaches into her pocket and takes out—_Lena’s interdimensional extrapolator?_ She smirks, opens a breach and disappears in a billow of blue—

Which dissolves right as Kara crashes against it.

Kara falls to the floor. “That—that—” Trying hard not to say—

“Bitch.” Lena says it for her, rushing over to help her up. “She stole my interdimensional extrapolator!”

“_Our _ interdimensional extrapolator.” Kara looks slightly hurt, as if Lena’s forgotten her wife was initially the recipient of Cisco’s special gadget. 

“Of course it’s _ ours_, sweetheart, it’s just I’ve been spending so much time with it . . .” _Geez, after almost ten years of marriage, I’m still making rookie mistakes._ Lena kisses her wife to smooth things over, and Kara smiles again.

“At least we know now why it’s been so hard to track her location. She’s been hiding on another Earth! Or multiple Earths!”

“She better at least have left me one.” Lena shakes her head. Thank God she’s almost finished building the duplicate for her doppelgänger.

“I know it’s late, and I meant to stay home.” Kara looks at her apologetically. “But I better run back to the DEO. The sooner we go after your mother, the sooner we’ll catch her. I’ll just stop off at your lab and grab the remaining extrapolator—that’s _ if _your mom did manage to not be an absolute doughnut hole and left you one.”

“Kara—” Lena can’t believe she’s actually going to say this. “You can’t go after my mother. Not anymore.”

“Pfft.” Kara waves her hand dismissively, perhaps demonstrating the smackdown she’s going to give Lillian the next time she sees her. “Babe, you know you don’t need to worry about me. Your mom being at large on multiple Earths doesn’t make her any more of a danger to—”

“It’s not you I’m worried about.” Lena bites her lip, as Kara tilts her head in confusion. “That’s not what I meant. You know I always worry about you, darling. It’s just that . . . She was here with the children. They’re _ happy. _ Think of how upset they’ll be, especially Betty—”

“She’ll understand. Maybe not _now_, but someday.” Kara presses her lips into a stubborn line and sets her fists on her hips. A pose that usually makes Lena swoon, but now just makes her angry.

“Now _matters_, Kara. I refuse to put our child through that kind of heartache.” Lena picks up Turtle and starts up the stairs, partly to put said child back to bed, but also because if Kara’s going to be so blinded by her hatred of Lena’s mother, maybe seeing Betty’s joyous little face will bring her to her senses. 

Besides, there’s too much barking and squealing coming from Betty’s room to mean anything good. “I can say that as an adult, I _ understand _ my mother couldn’t help but see my father’s betrayal every time she looked at me. But the child who grew up with her didn’t. That child still lives and breathes and _ hurts _ inside me. That will never go away, no matter how many good Lillians on other Earths I manage to forge a relationship with.”

Kara follows her up the stairs. “You’ve been hanging out with more Lillians?”

“I mean, not _ yet _ . . . That’s not the point, Kara.” She opens their door and sets Turtle down, then shuts it so he won’t somehow accidentally roll out again and crash down the stairs. Next she opens the door to Bella’s room. Their newest munchkin is fast asleep, with Wally and Petunia faithfully keeping watch. Lena smiles at them and softly shuts the door. She opens Betty’s. Jack rockets around in circles just inches from the ceiling, Rover and Punkie tucked under each arm, Comet and Charlotte clamoring for a turn.

Betty sits calmly on the floor, Minerva and Alfred flanking her, drawing a picture. She now holds it up proudly for Lena and Kara to see—them and her and Jack and Bella and all the pets, all smiling stick figures—along with one that’s undoubtedly Lillian, clad in a bright orange jumpsuit.  
  
She beams at them. “I drew Granma in orange ’cause that’s her fav’rite color.”

Lena gives her wife a pointed look, then turns her attention back to the kids. “It’s wonderful, darling, but you can finish it tomorrow. It’s way past time for bed. For _all of you_.”

It takes ten minutes for her and Kara to calm the dogs and Charlotte down, and ten more to tuck the kids and their dogs back into bed. “No more stories, Betty, you already had six to—all right, but _ just _ the one.” (Lena is _ not _ a pushover.) Finally she and Kara enter their own bedroom, with Charlotte, Minerva, Alfred and Punkie trailing behind them. Someone nudges Turtle and he rolls toward his cage.

Kara shuts the door and shakes off a boot. “Fine, we won’t do anything about it tonight. I’m sure after a good night’s sleep you’ll see letting Lillian go free is a big mistake.”

“I’ll see nothing of the sort.” Lena unfastens Turtle’s skates—for the second time tonight—so he can get some sleep. “I can’t do it, Kara. As long as Lillian doesn’t do anything violent, I won’t be the one to betray our children.”

The other boot hits the floor. “She _ already _ hurt someone. She knocked out the nurse!”

Lena shrugs her shoulders, unbuttons and shrugs off her shirt. She chucks it onto the bed, narrowly missing Charlotte’s head. “In order to escape. In the past my mother wouldn’t have hesitated to kill whomever stood in her path. She’s changed. At least, somewhat.”

Kara’s back is turned as she hangs up her cape in the closet. “I bet the only reason she didn’t strangle that nurse is she knew her grandkids would find out and think less of her for it.”

“Exactly. And what would you have me do, Kara, after I confess to the authorities and Lillian is thrown back in prison? This time perhaps into solitary?” Lena starts to remove her bra, then realizes she isn’t wearing one, and that the shirt she tossed onto the bed is her pajama top. She reaches for it again. “What would you have me tell our children? That I—that _you_—that we purposely reversed the one thing they’ve been consistently hoping for and dreaming about all the years they’ve known her?”

Kara has now turned back from the closet, and is staring at Lena’s breasts. As much as Lena enjoys that after all the years they’ve been together and the countless times Kara has seen her naked, she can still reduce her wife to a pair of googly eyes just by flashing her boobs, during a fight it’s just a distraction. She angrily throws the pajama top back on and hurriedly does up the buttons, not caring whether she’s putting them in right.

The Super skirt falls to the floor, and Kara kicks it across the room. “We can tell them _ why_. Because aside from being a loving grandmother, she’s also a ruthless murderess!”

Lena sets her fists on her hips, in her own impression of the Super pose. “Not anymore.”

Kara shrugs out of her Super top, and now it’s Lena who’s staring at super breasts and wishing they weren’t fighting. 

“You would feel very different about this if you hadn’t gone to that other Earth and become all buddy-buddy with Lillian’s non-evil twin.”

“_That has nothing to do with it._” Lena takes a deep breath to control her tone, all thoughts of make-up sex gone. She thinks of that moment back in New York with Betty, that moment she will do anything to never have happen again. “I would feel very different about this if I hadn’t witnessed our daughter _ fall apart _ when she realized her grandmother would never, _ever_ be able to come over and play with her, like a normal person. And I had to tell her I couldn’t do anything to fix it. I am not going to screw this up for her now, and neither are you.”

Kara pulls on a t-shirt, rolls out of her pantyhose, and flops down on the bed. She throws aside the covers for Lena to join her. So used to Lena joining her. So unused to them fighting.

“Seriously, babe, we’ll talk about it in the morning. When you’re not so emotional.”

“When I’m not so_ emotional?_ Have you even heard a word I’ve said?” Lena grabs her pillow and a blanket.

Kara and all the pets stare up at her. “Where are you going?”

“To the guest room, to stop being so _emotional_, so I can get some sleep.”

Lena turns and storms out of the room—refraining from slamming the door just because she doesn’t want to wake up the baby. Upset she’s going to sleep alone, apart from her wife, on purpose for the first time they’ve been together. (Outside of business travel and Super battles and the trip to New York with Betty.) But Charlotte jumps off the bed and juts her broad body between the door and the jamb, and follows Lena out into the hall. Minerva slips out behind them just before Lena accidentally shuts her tail in the door.

*

Kara sits, stunned, on the bed. She looks over at Punkie, who’s staring at the closed door.

“You can go be with Lena too, if you want.”

But Punkie just leans toward her and licks her face. Kara smiles. At least Punkie’s standing by her. Well, sitting by her. She looks over at Turtle, but he’s fast asleep in his cage. Would Turtle pick Lena over her, too?

Alfred’s clawing at some poor insect behind the curtains, totally oblivious to any parental drama.

Kara gazes back at her loyal dog. “You don’t think I’m being unreasonable about this, do you?”

Punkie barks, which Kara takes as an affirmative. She stares at the door. Maybe the reason she thinks Betty will get over it is because she’s never really been there to witness her and Lillian’s relationship. She’s only really held Betty a few times while Lillian spoke to her over the phone. And she came to the prison _ once _ . . . only so the kids would think she and Lillian were on good terms.

She _ has _ been known to be unreasonable when there’s kryptonite involved . . .

And yeah, her wife can be emotional, but that doesn’t mean she’s not usually _ right. _

*

Lena tosses and turns, and finally gives up on the idea she’s going to get any sleep tonight. No matter how exhausted she is, she’s just not used to fighting with her wife and not making up immediately afterward.

Usually in an exciting way.

She lies on her back and stares at the ceiling, then lets her eyes wander over the room, at the paintings on the walls, just visible by the faint moonlight coming through the windows. Charlotte is out like a light at the end of the bed, and Minerva calmly lies draped around Lena’s head as if nothing is amiss.

Kara’s right. Lillian’s dangerous and needs to be locked away. But Lena just can’t bear to see her daughter heartbroken again, and to know she’s the cause of it.

And, if she’s being honest with herself, Kara’s correct in that she _has _been feeling more vulnerable around the idea of her mother lately. Wanting to hold on to the faintest hope that their relationship is salvageable. Even though she already loves the Lillian she’s known a total of two days so much more than the one who’s always been in her life, she wants to at least _try_ for them to grow closer.

She thinks back to when she first resumed visiting Lillian in prison after she and Kara got engaged. How she’d tucked her ring into her purse, unwilling to share her joy with her mother, who would no doubt try to ruin it. How she’d kept it up, week after week, until finally deciding enough was enough and defiantly flashing _ both _her rings.

“I knew.” Her mom had leaned forward across the table, flashing her eyes—and her chains—right back. “I’ve known since you two started dating. Do you honestly think anything happens in your life that I don’t know about?”

Lena had withdrawn in horror. _ Of course _ her mom had spies outside the prison. 

Lillian’s expression suddenly turned dangerous. “You tell her, that if she ever hurts you, I will make it my business to get out of here—”

Lena had scoffed, and her mom had smirked and added, chillingly, _ “—you know I can—” _

—before continuing her initial threat, “—and I will yeet her back into space, where she belongs.”

Lena had fixated on that word—_yeet—how did her mom even know it? Had she been picking up slang in prison?_—probably in order not to focus on the implications of what was just said.

She wouldn’t put anything past Lillian.

And then when she’d gotten pregnant, and had begun to show, Lillian had again leaned across the table, her chains rattling. “You tell her, if she ever hurts the baby—”

“She’s not going to hurt the baby,” Lena had indignantly interrupted. “She’s its _mother_. She loves it, and it’s not even _here_ yet.”

Lillian’s expression had only grown darker. “She’s _already_ hurt it, by having it with you. It will grow up having to hide who it is. To keep itself safe from people like—”

_ “You?” _ Lena had accused her, and Lillian’s eyes finally softened.

“I promise you, I will never do anything to hurt this baby. How could I? It’s a part of you, and I . . .” Lillian had trailed off, perhaps not yet ready to admit she loved Lena. At least, in her own way.

Her eyes had turned pleading. “I do hope you’ll introduce me to the baby, once it’s old enough.” 

Lena must have let out an involuntary noise of revulsion, because Lillian reached out her hand to touch her, even though it was against visitation rules.

_ “Please.” _

Lena had stared at her mom, not at all prepared for such a display of vulnerability, and suddenly realized how lonely Lillian must be. The stigma of being a Luthor must carry weight even in a prison full of hardened criminals. 

Lillian added, “I _ am _ its grandmother, after all.”

“The baby already _ has _ a grandmother. One who isn’t a convicted felon,” Kara had insisted that night, as she held Lena in bed as they talked through their day. But over the months that followed, Lena kept bringing it up, and Kara’s stance had gradually softened. (Lena never relayed her mother’s ridiculous threats of yeeting, so that perhaps played some part.)

Now Lena lies in the bed in the lonely guest room, accompanied only by a pig and a cat, and wonders at how Lillian has managed to come between her and her wife after all.  
  
There’s a gentle knock at the door. 

She looks over as the door creaks open. Kara’s head pokes into the room. “Hey,” she says softly.

Lena’s heart warms that her wife is here to make amends, and so soon. “Hey,” she whispers.

Kara pads into the room with her own pillow and another blanket, followed closely by Punkie. He jumps onto the bed and watches the both of them, seemingly waiting for some sort of resolution. Kara sits on the edge of the bed, looking apologetic. 

“Okay,” she says quietly. “I’ll agree to not say anything. For the kids. But if Lillian hurts even just a single other soul, all bets are off.”

“That’s fair.” Lena throws the sheets aside so Kara can get in beside her—

Punkie snuggles into the space Lena’s just made, and they both burst out laughing. Kara wiggles closer to them and Lena throws the sheets over all of them.

“Turtle asleep?”

“Like a log.”

“Alfred still terrorizing the spiders?”

“Well _ something’s _ dead by now.”

They lie there awhile, breathing together, grateful to be together again, in accord, with Punkie thankfully no longer farting. 

Kara looks down at Charlotte, snoring on the end of the bed, then cranes her neck to gaze at Minerva, draped around Lena’s head like a furry wig. “I see who’s the most loved in this family.”

“Oh, please.” Lena leans over to kiss her wife, then reaches up to tousle Minerva’s fur. “It’s just, the three of us have always been nap buddies.”

Kara sighs. “I’ll still have to accompany the DEO on missions to recapture her. And I won’t do anything to sabotage their efforts.”

“Agreed.”

“I’m sorry I said you were being emotional.”

“I was.”

“Yeah, but you were right. I haven’t really been around for the kids’ relationship with your mom. I guess I figured they like Lillian like they like the guard dogs outside. Not like they love Punkie.”

Punkie barks and licks Kara’s face. He lunges to lick Lena’s next. She dodges his slobbery tongue just in time, reaching out to stroke his muzzle fondly.

“I don’t know whether you’ve noticed, but Betty is totally in love with the guard dogs. She asked me if we could adopt them after their tours of duty are over.”

“Is that why we have a goldfish now?”

“Mmm.”

It’s quiet then, and Lena can feel herself finally drifting off to sleep . . . 

“Were we wrong, do you think, to introduce the kids to her? To let them build a relationship with her? Couldn’t we have foreseen this?”

Lena thinks awhile, thinks back to how different things were back then. How new. How exciting, and how frightening. She shakes her head and reaches for Kara’s hand to squeeze. “We made the decision we thought was right at the time, sweetheart. That’s all a parent can ever do. And then pay for therapy.”

Kara giggles, then turns her head to kiss Lena’s cheek. “How are we going to pull the wool over J’onn’s eyes?”

Lena looks her wife right in the eye. “I’ve been working on that eventuality since the week we got back from our honeymoon, darling.”

Kara’s expression once more turns somber.

“Even if we’re not going to recapture Lillian, we should at least keep tabs on her.”

*

And so is born the Council of Lenas and Karas, an idea <strike>stolen</strike> borrowed from S.T.A.R. Labs and Harry Wells. Lena borrows their Multiverse holo-projector to send a message to all her and Kara’s doppelgängers that they need their help. She proposes a specific date and time, and then she and Kara set up refreshments in L-Corp’s small secret lab, and wait.

One by one, pairs of Lena Luthors and Kara Danverses materialize in front of them, shimmering and crackling before each hologram solidifies. Not an _ infinite _ number, but a definite crowd. Lena holds back a laugh at how many of her doppelgängers are wearing predictable office attire. (Sexy, yet still professional, though there’s one who looks like she’s on her way to a nightclub. Hopefully she didn’t wear that to work.) Most of the Karas have elected to come through wearing their Super suits. Or, their Stupendous suits. Introductions, while perhaps superfluous, are made. Supercalifragilisticexpialidociousgirl is there, and Lena and Kara exchange knowing looks. There’s also a Surfergirl, so-named because she operates out of Malibu and calls everyone “my dude.” And there’s Slipperygirl, so quick to slip away from the scene of a crime, no photographer has ever gotten a good shot of her. 

And there’s Tremendousgirl, and Fabulousgirl, and Amazinggirl, for, as the glyph was explained to Cat, “It’s not an S.”

There’s even a Fuck-you-up-girl, who shrugs and gives them all a sheepish grin. “Ms. Grant was feeling particularly feisty that day.”

Lena’s heart warms at how many of their doppelgängers seem to be couples—or, at least, are on the road to getting there. 

“And this is my wife, Kara—” and “This is my girlfriend, Lena—” are common introductions. There’s only one Kara who blushes a deep pink and insists she and Lena are “just really good friends.” The Lena who came with her just sighs and shakes her head. All around them there are whispers, which is rather pointless as all the Karas have super/stupendous/supercalifragilisticexpialidocious hearing. “I give it two more months,” predicts someone, loud enough for even many of the Lenas to hear. Clueless Kara turns the color of her cape and shoves a croissant into her mouth.

Once everyone quiets down, Lena tells them her mom has broken out of prison and is hiding on another Earth. “We don’t really want to capture her,” she explains, looking at all the sympathetic faces—some because they have difficult, possibly felonious mothers too, others because their Lillians are wonderful and they can’t imagine anything different. “Our children love her and would be devastated if she were taken away from them.”

She can’t help but look over at her wife, and is surprised that Kara really does seem to be okay with it.

Everyone pledges to help, and soon they’re all chatting amongst themselves as Lena and her Kara go around talking to individual couples. Networking with themselves. Nightclub Lena tells them her mother is dying from cancer, and it won’t be long before she’s gone. “You can have her body if you want. To stage a fake funeral. That way the heat will be off and you can go back to a relatively normal life.”

Lena and Kara look at each other with surprise before turning back to her. “That’s kind of you to offer,” says Lena. “But won’t you want to hold your own funeral?”

Nightclub Lena snorts and waves a dismisssive hand. “Please. No one would go, she’s so horrible.”

Lena laughs awkwardly, and Kara pipes up, “That actually might work. Yeah, let’s definitely keep in touch.”

They make plans to do just that, and Lena realizes she should probably build some more extrapolators.

Her doppelgänger smiles. “I think you’re doing a good thing. Your mom must have her good side, if your kids love her.”

Lena nods despite herself. “She’s been worse.” 

As Kara keeps talking with her, Lena muses that it’s better this way. For the children. And for Lena, too. If she’s really going to try to repair her relationship with her mother, it will be easier if she’s not trying to do it from across the table holding Lillian’s chained hands. And Lillian would definitely not appreciate it if Lena turned her in to—

Hang on a second.

Lillian had told her she loved her, not long after talking on the phone with Betty, comforting her over Bella being held in the NICU. Lena thinks back to her mother’s voice coming out of the speakerphone—

_ “When someone’s locked away, and can’t come to your house to play, it will make it that much more special once they finally do. It won’t be too much longer, I promise you.” _

She and Kara had suspected Lillian was referring to more than just their baby. That she’d already begun planning her escape. Did Lillian tell Lena she loved her, precisely _so_ Lena wouldn’t turn her in? Did Lillian once again manipulate her?

Lena sinks into the nearest chair and leans over to hold her head in her hands. She’s never going to be able to trust Lillian. Lillian and her idea of what passes for love. Never.

“Hey, are you okay?” The soft voice of her wife washes over her, somehow easily discernible from all the other Karas in the room. She crouches by her side and Lena allows her to comfort her, sinking into her embrace. She _ will _be okay. She’s got Kara, she’s got Jack and Betty and Bella, she’s got Eliza and the Superfriends. She’s got an entire menagerie of furbabies (including one with scales). And she’s got Other Lillian.

After a few kisses, her sorrow melts away. She stands and after another smooch, Kara moves off to continue speaking with someone, and Lena looks around, ready to continue mingling. As if on cue, Lena from Earth-Y approaches her.

“Hey.” Other Lena smiles warmly. “I wish we were meeting in person so I could give you a big hug.”

“Likewise.” Lena smiles. “Made any headway?”

Other Lena arches a questioning eyebrow, and Lena gestures to all the Karas around them.

“Oh that.” Other Lena sighs. “You know me. When it comes to relationships, stupendously confident I’m not.”

“No,” Lena muses. “None of us are, I’m afraid.”

Her doppelgänger suddenly breaks into a huge smile, looking past Lena and then back. “You remember my Kara, don’t you?”

Other Kara’s hologram now steps up to them, and Lena feels her cheeks turn hot. “I’m so sorry for deceiving you” is not even out of her mouth when Other Kara waves this aside with a smile.

“No worries,” she says, looking both sincere and sheepish. “Honestly I’m afraid we never would have gotten together without you.”

“Mother’s anxious to see you again,” says Other Lena. “In fact she’s hoping we can come see her together, so she can have both her daughters with her at the same time. Those were her exact words. Maybe tomorrow for dinner? Kara usually comes with me but she has a thing with James and the kids.”

Lena bites her lip. “I’d love to, but things are so hectic now—”

Just then Lena’s own Kara steps up to them, taking Lena’s hand. “You should totally go, babe. You need a break from all this.” She looks at their doppelgängers, smiles and gives them her adorable, dorky wave.

Other Lena jokes, “You must be the Mrs.”

“I am,” Kara agrees, laughing. “I’m very proud to be Mrs. Luthor-Danv—not that I’m saying _ you guys _ should get married so quickly—or _at all_, if you don’t want to,” she adds quickly.

Other Lena and Other Kara stare at her, and Kara continues to babble. “Just because _we_ got married so quickly doesn’t mean—”

“We didn’t get married _that_ quickly,” says Lena.

“Less than a year after moving in together.” Kara turns back to their doppelgängers. “Not that I’m saying you guys even have to _move in_ together if you don’t—”

“I’m sure Lena doesn’t want to move in with me.” Other Kara blushes as red as the cape she’s currently not wearing. She hangs her head. “With the kids . . . and all the pets . . .”

“That’s not what she told me,” mutters Lena. ‘Forgetting’ momentarily about the stupendous hearing.

Other Kara’s head snaps up. “What? Really?”

Kara takes Lena’s hand. “We should probably leave them alone to talk.” She leads her away, or at least as far away as they can get in a little lab crowded with their doppelgängers, then whispers, “It’s almost like you did that on purpose.”

Lena smiles. “Almost.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Many thanks to Azwildcatfan94 for the suggestion to have Jailbird Lillian give Kara a shovel talk.


	5. Chapter 5

Lena puts on her sunglasses. And her newly purchased Mets baseball cap—pulling it low over her eyes, so no one seeing her and Other Lena will think they’re seeing double. 

Lillian had at least been so kind and thoughtful, in the midst of her thieving, to leave Lena the copy of the extrapolator, the one she’d built her doppelgänger. Lena worked late into the night to render it fully operational. She still needs to build another for Other Lena, and plans to make even more in the future, for Nightclub Lena, and Fuck-you-up-girl, and an entire gang of Lenas and Karas they hit it off with at the Council. And really, someone needs to help Clueless Kara and her long-suffering “just really good friend” Lena get together, because cumulatively, _ all _ the Lenas have put up with enough. 

Now Lena breaches to her and Other Lena’s rendezvous, behind the restrooms at Central Park’s Conservatory Water. They’d discussed meeting on Other Lena’s neighbor’s basement landing, or at least, closer to Lillian’s building—with Other Lena even broaching the possibility Lena could materialize right into Lillian’s apartment. Or at least, onto the penthouse landing. Lena thought it safer to choose a spot where, if she overreached, she might conceivably come out behind a tree, or smack dab in the bushes, where someone might think she’d just been strolling through the park and gone off path. Instead of popping out of nowhere onto Other Lena’s quiet side street, right in the path of a pedestrian—or into some snooty New York socialite’s apartment. Lillian’s neighbors might call the police—or have a heart attack.

Luckily no one’s unexpectedly smoking behind the restrooms this time. Other Lena leans against the red brick building, waiting, as Lena jumps out of the blue and silver waves.

They share a hug before making their way out of the park.

“I’m sorry, I don’t have an extrapolator for you yet. My mother stole the original, so now I have to build a copy from the copy.”

“Wow.” Other Lena’s eyes widen, perhaps unable to imagine her own mom doing such a thing. “What a bitch.”

“_Yes_.” Lena laughs. “That’s what I said.” They exit the park and start up Fifth Avenue. “Any progress on the moving-in-together front?”

The light in Other Lena’s eyes dims. “Kara wants to ask the kids if it’s okay. So I said we should wait. Betty’s growing fond of me, but I’m not so sure about James Jr.”

Lena muses on this awhile. She has exactly zero experience being a step-parent, or dating someone with kids. But she has _ lots _ of experience with kids themselves. “Just give it time. I’m sure he’ll come around.” She looks over at her doppelgänger, who doesn’t look so sure. 

“I screwed up a chance tonight, to be honest. Kara asked me to go with her and the kids and James to a community theater play. I said no. Not because I didn’t _ want _ to sit through an hour and a half of amateur thespianism just to see four minutes of Betty being a fairy in the background. I just didn’t feel comfortable that James would be there. I felt I’d be imposing on their family time.”

“And you think James Jr. will count this as a strike against you?”

Other Lena shrugs her shoulders helplessly.

A dog walker struts by, with eight or nine canines in tow. All of them start barking at Lena and her doppelgänger. Apparently sunglasses and a baseball cap will fool humans, but not dogs. Perhaps human doppelgängers smell exactly the same, and that weirds them out.

Lena pulls her cap farther down her face, as everyone around them starts staring at her and Other Lena, instead of those mangy dogs. “Just be honest with Kara how you feel. I’m sure she’d be thrilled to coordinate some activities so you and her son can grow closer.” She thinks back to when her advice to her doppelgänger would have been anything other than “be honest,” glad they’ve at least moved forward.

They finally hit Lillian’s building—finally, as every other dog they’ve passed has gone ballistic. Lena’s definitely considering breaching right onto Lillian’s landing in the future. At least neither the doorman nor the concierge do anything more than smile and say hello to Other Lena’s brunette friend, who just happens to share her cheekbones and sharp jawline. 

The elevator deposits them at the very top, where Lillian is already holding open her door, beaming at the both of them. Other Lena steps forward to kiss her mom’s cheek, then saunters into the apartment.

Lena hesitates—it’s the first time she’s seen Other Lillian since she was discovered to be an imposter, and the first time she’s seeing her with Lillian’s real daughter in tow—but Lillian eagerly waves her forward. Lena steps inside and has barely turned back around to face her when the door shuts and Lillian’s arms are around her.

After a minute, Lillian steps back and surveys her like she’s a priceless statue in a museum. Lillian brushes Lena’s hair to one side and stares at her short, spiky undercut. Then she looks from Lena to her real daughter—who’s standing there in the foyer, smirking—and back again. “Well. I thought I’d processed what happened, my feelings about it, but it’s quite a different thing to see you both here, side by side. I almost can’t believe it.”

Lena bites her lip with worry, while her doppelgänger looks at her mom, at her, then back again. “You don’t think this is _ too _ weird, do you? The two of us together?”

Lillian shakes her head, beaming. “It’s just wonderful. Such a blessing. There’s so much to life we don’t understand. Why quibble over the happiness life brings us, just because it doesn’t make sense in our imperfect understanding?”

Relief washes over Lena as their mother hooks her arms into the both of theirs and leads them further into the apartment, which smells delicious. Lena smiles. Mayumi’s cooking, and for once Kara isn’t here to eat up everything.

Still, she can’t help but ask Lillian, once dinner is winding down, if she might bring some leftovers home. Lillian tells her not to worry, that she specifically had Mayumi make enough food for both her daughters to bring home to their Karas.

“I’m sorry last time I didn’t think to change for dinner.” Lena winces, remembering the first time she was here. “I’m sure someone on the board brought it up with you.”

“Sweetheart.” Lillian sets dessert on the table and pats Lena’s knee. “I _ am _ the board.”

Other Lena cuts herself a slice of cherry cheesecake. “Mother got Harrison Ford’s application for the corner apartment rejected. All because Cat Grant was annoyed he kept calling her.”

“_Lena._” Lillian frowns. “We do not gossip in front of—”

“Family?” Other Lena smirks and takes a bite of cheesecake, rolling her eyes at how delectable it is. Or, at her mother.

Lillian laughs and turns back to Lena. “I’m sorry, dear. It will take me some time to acclimate to having _ two _ daughters.” She narrows her eyes, looking from one to the other. “And don’t you two try to prank me. Especially”—she parts Lena’s hair again—“when your hair grows out.” 

Other Lena’s phone rings, and she excuses herself to answer it. “It’s Kara. She’s with James and the kids and I’m feeling very insecure about it.” She disappears into the sitting room. Lena turns back to Lillian, who’s gazing at her fondly.

“I’m not worried about my daughter and her Kara. If you had seen them together—”

“I have.” Lena smiles. “I’m not worried about them anymore, either.” She takes a deep breath, trying to summon the courage to ask what she’s been wondering since she first heard Other Lillian’s voice over her phone. The way it exuded love and tenderness. “I don’t mean to be rude, it’s just . . . I wanted to ask . . .”

Lillian smiles warmly. “We’re family, darling. You can ask me anything.”

Lena thinks back to her own Lillian’s distance throughout her childhood. She looks over at the framed picture on the fireplace mantel, of Other Lena and her family, everyone so happy and just . . . _ comfortable _ around each other. What a real family should be. “I just . . . I’ve been trying to understand. The difference. Lena told me she was adopted, too. That her dad . . . I mean, _ my _ mom was upset my dad cheated on her, and she saw me as a reminder of that, always. . .”

Lillian reaches out to place her hand over Lena’s. “I don’t understand how your mother _ could _ feel that way. You were a _child_, for Heaven’s sake. Yes, of course it was hard for me when Lionel confessed to being unfaithful. But I dealt with my feelings, and we worked on our marriage. It was difficult, but I forgave him. When we found out her mother had died, there was no question we would bring her home. And as sorry as I felt for her mother, and for Lena—how sad she was in the beginning, how she missed her . . . I was always thrilled to have her. To have a daughter, as well as a son. I had a difficult pregnancy, and I’d been told I couldn’t have any more children. So I always saw her as a gift.”

A flood of hurt washes over Lena. As happy as she is for her doppelgänger, that Other Lena had such a happy upbringing, and as content as she is with the life she’s built for herself, she can’t help wondering why she was fated to start life with the difficult version of the Luthors, while someone else got all the love. Wishing her own Lillian could have felt that way about her, could have been the bigger person . . . Instead of fixating on Lex . . . _ Lex. _ Lena’s almost forgotten about _ this _Earth’s Lex. She supposes he’s in his room, playing chess with Mayumi. Plotting how to take down Stupendousgirl, once he regains the use of his limbs. 

Lillian knocks her out of her morose contemplation.

“And I’m so sorry your mother couldn’t have put her ego aside and loved you like you needed her to.”

Lena looks back at this Lillian, and knows she’s got to let go. Enjoy what she’s got now. But she’s tried, _ so many _ times, to let go, to forgive her mother. Why is it so hard?

Lillian scowls. “I have half a mind to come with you to your Earth, and give that miserable excuse for a mother of yours a good talking to.”

“As much as I’d love to see that”—Lena can’t help but smile at the thought—“I’ve been trying to repair my relationship with her. I think she would see you as a threat if she knew we were close.”

Lillian sighs, looking sorry, not just for Lena, but to be deprived of delivering a good scolding. “I certainly don’t wish to make things harder for you. So, I will refrain. But I want you to know, you are always welcome here.”

Lena smiles, her heart thumping against the barrier of her sternum. “That makes me really happy. Lillian.”

Lillian gently squeezes her hand. “You can call me Mom . . . if you would like. You certainly don’t have to if you don’t want to.”

Lena forces herself to refrain from crying. “I would like that very much. _Mom._”

Lillian smiles, but only for an instant. Her forehead furrows, like she’s debating saying something. Then she says, very slowly and carefully, like she’s afraid she’s going to scare Lena off somehow, “You may have noticed, Lena is . . . very insecure. Especially when it comes to interpersonal relationships, but even when it comes to her career. She’s worked in the lab much longer than she’s needed to, to take her rightful place as head of LuthorCorp. Of course, she loves it in the lab—aside from Berman—”

Lena lets out a laugh.

“—so I have no desire to push her out and up. But I wondered about it a long time, why she was never confident like Lex, when I never treated them differently. I suppose, if I had realized she was homosexual, and that my own demeanor was, perhaps, a bit overbearing—”

Lena suppresses a smile. _ A bit. _ Well, compared to Earth-38’s Lillian, this Lillian _ is _ only _ a bit. _

“—perhaps I might have attributed it to that. But I didn’t, and I pressed, and eventually she confessed she’d . . .” Lillian squeezes Lena’s hand a bit harder. “She’d been there, on the shore, the day her birth mother drowned.”

Lena’s breath catches in her throat.

She realizes she can’t see Lillian anymore, because she’s crying. She looks down at the table, hoping Lillian somehow won’t notice the tears in her eyes.

Lillian continues, even more slowly, and gently, and Lena knows she’s no longer speaking just of the girl she raised. “She’d always carried with her a sense of guilt, that she hadn’t done anything to save her mother. A sense that she was somehow culpable, and therefore, somehow unworthy of love. I explained to her that she’d been a little girl, that there was nothing she could have done, that it wasn’t—”

Lena has to hide her face in her hands as a sob escapes her throat, and suddenly Lillian’s arms are around her, and holding her tight.

“It wasn’t your fault, Lena. There was nothing you could have done. It _ wasn’t your fault.” _

And as Lena finally breaks down over her birth mother, for the first time since she was four, she realizes this is something she’s never even shared with Kara, because she’s never allowed herself to even think about it. She’d buried it deep inside, not just so she need never think of it, but so her own Lillian would never find out.

Now this other Lillian is holding her, and telling her it’s not her fault, and that she’s loved, that she’s lovable and worthy, and that she’s—

“I _ mean it _ when I say you are welcome here anytime. You don’t even need to let me know ahead of time. Just come over. I’ll be so thrilled to see you.”

Just then another arm reaches around Lena, and she turns her head just enough to see that Other Lena has inserted herself into the hug. And that she looks so happy. Perhaps she took Lena’s advice about being honest with Other Kara. Whatever was said, Kara surely reassured her. 

Other Lena giggles. “Although, you probably _ should _ let Mom know ahead of time. So she has time to shut up Lex in his room.”

For some reason that makes them all laugh, even though it should make them cry, and after a few moments, they pull apart, looking at each other with love in their eyes. Lillian arches an eyebrow. “How could I have forgotten about my son? Yes, it _ would _ be preferable he doesn’t find out his sister has an interdimensional twin. He might be motivated to find his own.”

And Lena’s reminded that nobody ever has it perfect. She’d been wrong to think Other Lena had such an easier time growing up. She’d had her own troubles, and Other Lex caused his family a great deal of pain. Lena wonders if there’s a version of the Luthors somewhere, where Lex never went insane, where the family was never fractured. If there’s a universe where the Luthors are so happy, a Lena was never conceived.

Her doppelgänger gently pats Lena’s hip. “I’ll be going out with Elaine and Josh next Friday lunch. You could have lunch with Mom out in the open and no one will know.”

Lena grins, and licks away a tear that’s settled onto her lip. “I would love that. But . . . how are you going to give Berman the slip?”

Other Lena laughs. “That’s part of the fun. We’ll tell him we’ll be right back and make our escape.”

And as they all stand there smiling at each other, still touching, Lena almost wishes she could transport Kara and Betty and Jack and Bella here, along with the pets, and Eliza and Jess and the Superfriends, and leave Earth-38 behind.

*

They stay at Lillian’s well into the night, as Lena needs as much Good Mom time as she can get to carry her through the ongoing stress of what Bad Mom has wrought.

Before heading home, Lena gives her doppelgänger a lift to Other Kara’s backyard.

“Thank you for everything,” she tells her, pulling her into a hug. “I’m so happy I met you and your mom.”

“_Our_ mom,” says Other Lena, squeezing her tight. “Me, too. I always wanted a sister, and now I have one.”

“A _ big _ sister.” Lena grins as they finally let go and pull away. “An older, wiser, more experienced—”

“Don’t push it.” Other Lena winks and playfully sticks out her tongue, then scampers to the back door and knocks softly.

Lena waits just long enough to see Other Kara open it, then, feeling warm and content, opens a new breach to take herself home, to her own Kara, and the wonderful life they’ve built together.

*

“Thanks for coming so late.” Other Kara gives Other Lena a hug and a kiss, then gently pulls her into the house. “I know it’s a bit of a train ride.”

“My counterpart actually brought me, with her extrapolator,” Lena confesses. Not that it matters any. It could be a train ride from one end of the city to the other and Lena would make it every time.

“Still.” Kara pulls Lena along with her, into the sitting room, into the kitchen to put the leftovers in the fridge, into the hallway and up the stairs—Charlotte and Punkie trailing behind. “I’m sure you’re tired.”

“Not—not _ that _ tired. Unless _ you _ are,” Lena quickly adds, not wanting her girlfriend to think she’s just here for sex. (Very, very quiet and careful sex, with pajamas at the ready, as the kids are home.)

Kara pauses first to listen in at the door of her son’s room, then at her daughter’s. An awful snoring can be heard through the door. It must be the dog. It certainly can’t be tiny, darling Betty making that horrible noise. 

“Tired? Me?” Kara turns back to her with a suggestive grin. “Pshaw. I’m _Stupendous_girl.” 

She opens the door to her bedroom, and eagerly pulls Lena inside.

*

Much the same is happening on Earth-38. They’re three hours behind their doppelgängers, but Alex and Maggie have the kids for the night, and Kara and Lena are not in the habit of squandering any precious, extra alone time gifted them.

They’re holding each other in bed in the early morning, when Lena finally tells Kara about her birth mother drowning. She cries, and Kara squeezes her tighter. And cries. Charlotte waddles over to them from the foot of the bed, squealing in alarm at this display of sadness. So unused to so many tears in a household full of joy. Punkie starts howling mournfully, and Minerva meows along, and Alfred jumps up on the bed and adds his dulcet tones. Turtle starts the slow crawl over to them, not wanting to be left out.

And then they have to hurriedly pull on pajamas, because there’s pounding on the door, along with additional barking. Alex and Maggie must have been pulled into work early and dropped the kids off. Lena grabs a remote off the nightstand. She hits the buttons that unlock the door and turn off the red sun lamps in the bedroom and hall. (They’ve learned, through unfortunate experience, to keep their bedroom secure even when they think the kids are gone.) Jack carefully cradles Bella as he and Betty, Rover and Comet, and Wally and Petunia pour in. Soon there are no more tears, as everyone’s cuddling and laughing, and Lena and Kara find each other in the middle of the pile and share a kiss.

The extrapolator pings, with a message forwarded from the holo-projector. Nightclub Lena, letting them know her mom has passed.

A quick call is placed to their babysitter, who happens to be ex-DEO. For the time being they stick the kids and the pets in front of the downstairs TV, to watch _ Kung Fu Panda 7 _ for the umpteenth time. Lena and Kara hurry back to their room and get dressed, so Supergirl can fly them to the lab. It’s not long before Nightclub Lena’s hologram materializes in front of them.

“Did you come straight from the nightclub?” Kara actually asks, looking her outfit up and down. Another slinky thing, designed to draw the eyes down.

“I always go in to work on Saturday mornings.” Nightclub Lena gazes at her own cleavage, then looks back up again, confused. “What? You don’t think this is professional?”

“Oh no no, it’s _ totally _ professional.” Kara quickly undoes a few additional buttons on her own blouse, probably not wanting to make Nightclub Lena self-conscious. 

Not that Lena’s complaining. She tears her eyes away from her wife’s cleavage to gaze at her doppelgänger with compassion. “I’m very sorry for your loss.”

“I’m sorry, too,” says Nightclub Lena. “Sorry I won’t get to see her suffer any longer.”

Lena feels an eyebrow start to arch, and quickly refrains. If she’s honest with herself, she knows if her own mom had been _even more _terrible . . . if she hadn’t been such a loving grandmother to Lena’s children . . . if Lillian hadn’t made an effort with _her_ in her later years . . . Lena might have turned out the same way. Cold. Unfeeling. Vengeful. Wearing totally inappropriate clothing to work and not even realizing it.

“You know, I know a—” Lena hesitates, not wanting to overburden Other Lillian. And, if she’s honest with herself, a small part of her is afraid to share her. But she can feel all the pain Nightclub Lena’s trying to hide underneath her tough exterior, and wants so badly to soothe it. “I know a version of Lillian, on another Earth. She’s _ wonderful. _ So kind and loving. I’ve been building a relationship with her. Maybe . . . maybe you’d like to come along sometime and meet her?”

Nightclub Lena’s eyes light up, just for a second, before she once more affects a cool demeanor. “Why not? It couldn’t hurt any.”

Lena suppresses a smile, but her wife doesn’t, beaming her beautiful grin for all the worlds to see.

It wouldn’t be _ too _ much for Other Lillian, three daughters, would it? Lena thinks back to when she assented to adopting Petunia. Really, once you have four dogs—and a pig and a rat and two cats and a turtle—what’s one more dog to deal with?

She hopes Other Lillian will see it the same way.

*

It’s not too hard to stage her own mother’s death.

Just toss the corpse in a decrepit warehouse, surround it with anti-alien weapons, and Alex and J’onn are only too ready to believe one of the Luthor matriarch’s many enemies finally caught up with her.

The cancer having ravaged her body, the death scene might look a tad shady, but if Alex or J’onn do have suspicions, they don’t give voice to them.

Perhaps it’s just too easy to believe that someone wanted Lillian’s death to be as slow and painful as possible.

Jess keeps herself busy, taking care of anything and everything so Lena won’t have to. She finally approaches Lena during a quiet moment at the gathering at the house.

“I’m so very sorry about your mother, Mrs. Luthor-Danv—” Jess breaks off, sighing. “I apologize. _ Lena. _ I’m very sorry about your mother, Lena.”

Maybe it’s the stress of everything, maybe it’s the sheer surprise of Jess relaxing her self-imposed formalities, but Lena bursts into tears and pulls her assistant—her _friend_—into a hug, which Jess good-naturedly endures.

“By which I mean, I’m very sorry she’s traipsing around on another Earth, instead of behind bars where she belongs.” 

Lena lets go and stares at her. “You knew?”

Jess harrumphs. “Please, Mrs. Luth—_Lena_. It will be a pleasant day in Hell—by which I mean, Purchasing—before anyone can pull the wool over _ my _ eyes.”

Lena laughs and gives her friend’s arm a squeeze. “Yes, I suppose it will.”

Kara’s been shooting anxious looks in the direction of the hallway, and at Betty—who’s wandering the living room following Charlotte around as the pig curiously noses the backs of guests’ knees. Lena supposes Kara thinks one of them should bring Betty outside for another ‘pep talk.’ But Kara’s rather preoccupied, talking with Alex and Maggie, and she obviously doesn’t want to arouse suspicion. 

They’d had another family talk right before setting out for the funeral. Kara and Lena had impressed upon the children the need to pretend to be sad over their grandmother’s ‘death.’ While Jack’s already a pro at deception, Betty’s facility at imagining lavish Victorian tea parties doesn’t quite translate to pretending to be sad over a situation that has actually made her astoundingly happy. 

Lena had forseen such a situation long ago, and built herself a cerebral inhibitor, off a design borrowed from Cisco and S.T.A.R. Labs. She’d made some adjustments, and can now convincingly project all the correct thoughts of grief and unprocessed anger over her mother’s death—and keep back the incriminating ones of where she and Kara really got the body—to fool J’onn.

And either Jack and Betty’s Kryptonian DNA trumps what’s human about them, or J’onn’s actually been respectful and has not attempted to read the minds of innocent children.

But Lena and Kara had worried Betty would still inadvertently tip the Superfriends off. 

Charlotte so startles one of the guests, he drops his chicken casserole. The pig eagerly gobbles it up off the floor, which incites in Betty a fit of hysterical giggling. Lena hastily excuses herself and moves to scoop her up. She brings Betty into the library so she can calm down, closing the door and setting her on the floor.

“I know it’s hard, sweetheart, but you have to keep making it look like you’re very sad Grandma is gone.”

“Yes, Betty darling, you must,” says Lillian, and Lena whirls around.

“Granma!” Betty joyfully scoots over to her grandmother, who picks her up and bounces her up and down—which, as Betty can fly on her own, really shouldn’t be all that exciting, Lena can’t help but think as she glowers at her mother.

“You have a lot of nerve, showing up here now.”

Lillian just shrugs, still holding Betty in her arms. “Everyone secretly wants to attend their own funeral. I have to say I was quite disappointed in the turnout. And the eulogy could have been kinder.”

Lena clenches her fists, not wanting to upset her daughter, but Betty seems preoccupied playing with her grandmother’s hair. Lena allows herself a moment of truth. “The only reason it was as _ civil _ as it was, was because the children were present.”

The door opens—and her heart leaps into her throat. _ Alex?—J’onn?— _

Kara enters and shuts the door firmly behind her. “I heard her heartbeat at the cemetery, but I didn’t want to say anything.” She places a gentle hand at the small of Lena’s back. “I was hoping she’d have the courtesy to stay away.”

Betty twists in Lillian’s arms and gives Kara a huge grin. “Now Granma can come over every day!” She squeals with joy.

Lena and Kara immediately softly shush her, but not a moment later footsteps sound in the hallway.

Jack’s voice pipes up, louder than absolutely necessary, “_Aunt Alex_, you should’ve been there, I hit a home run even with holding back my you-know-what—”

Lillian sets her granddaughter down and pulls out <strike>her</strike> Lena’s interdimensional extrapolator. 

“See you very soon, my darling Betty. I love you.” She looks up at Lena. “Likewise.” She looks at Kara and represses a grimace. “Always a pleasure, Kara.”

She opens a breach and disappears, just as Alex and Jack enter. 

Betty looks entirely too happy, and Lena crouches down and whispers, “Pretend for Aunt Alex, all right?”

“Yeah, Jack, sure, I’d love to come to your next game.” Alex looks suspiciously around the room—just as Betty lets out a wail. 

Lena affects a look of helplessness, and Alex buys it. She crouches down by her niece and takes her hands in her own. “Aww, Betty Boo, it’ll be okay. I know you loved your grandma”—she gives Lena and Kara a look that screams, _for some unfathomable reason_—“and that she loved you. Hey—guess what? Aunt Maggie left to pick up the twins from school, and they’re coming over with Gertrude. Why don’t we go look out for them?”

Betty immediately quits her crocodile tears and nods. Alex picks her up and heads out of the room, turning back to Kara and Lena and mouthing, _ I’ll let you two have a bit of a break. _

The door shuts. Jack beams at them—he must have heard Lillian’s heartbeat, too, and saw his aunt make a beeline to check out Betty’s suspicious squeal. Kara gives him a thumbs up and he leaves to continue schmoozing with his godfather, J’onn.

Kara doesn’t even say anything, just puts her arms around Lena and holds her. Lena melts into her embrace.

She stares out the window, at the sun peeking through the clouds. She’d thought the rain at the funeral was a bit of divine overkill—even were Lillian _ really _ dead, she wouldn’t warrant the sky mourning her—but now she can’t help but think the sun wants her to know everything’s going to be all right after all.

*

The sun beats down on the softball fields of Central Park, on Earth-Y, as Other Lena settles under a fly ball in right field.

_ “I have it, I have it—” _

The ball somehow misses her mitt and plunks her on the forehead.

The opposing team cheers, the bases clear, and Other Kara races over (without suspiciously engaging her stupendous speed) to grab the ball and throw it into the infield to hold the runner to a triple.

“I’m sorry, I thought I had it,” whimpers Lena, as Kara gently rubs her head.

“You _ almost _ did,” she says encouragingly. “I’m sure you’ll get the next one, babe. You’re doing so well.”

Lena gives her a weak smile, they share a quick kiss, and Kara jogs back to her position at shortstop. She shoots James Jr. at third a grin, and he rolls his eyes and moves his focus back to the runner, and the next pitch.

Kara glances back over at her shoulder at her girlfriend, who’s resumed her awkward ‘ready’ stance in the outfield, looking like she’s expecting a chemistry experiment to explode in her face, doing her best to bond with Kara’s son. James Jr. had told Kara he was glad Lena made her happy, that she didn’t need to join their softball team to try to impress him. (Translation: he didn’t want her screwing up the game for them.) But Kara’s grateful for this chance to involve her girlfriend in her son’s life. And honestly, it’s so much fun watching Lena try.

The next hitter lines the first pitch to right—

_ “I have it, I have it—” _

Kara suppresses a grin, and readies herself to run back out to her girlfriend.

*

Alex is true to her word, and joins Lena and Kara and Betty in the stands at Jack’s next ballgame. Along with Maggie and the twins, Jack’s family is solidly represented.

Lena sees him smile in the direction of the far corner of the stands. She follows his gaze toward a tall, slim woman sitting at the far end, all by herself. This woman wears sunglasses and a kerchief tied around her head, but even disguised, Lena would know her mother anywhere.

Jack’s family is a bit _ too _ solidly represented.

Lillian spends the entire game yelling encouragement from the stands, and raining abuse upon the ump, who, granted, is calling a horrible game. Still, Lena sits anxiously while Alex and Maggie stare at the far corner of the stands with a mix of suspicion and confusion.

Her mom disappears after the game before Lena can catch up with her, and thankfully before Alex and Maggie can check out the validity of their suspicions. Lena grips the wheel a bit too tightly on the way home, but Kara gently squeezes her knee and tells her not to worry. 

And she’s right. Two days later, another of Lena’s doppelgängers reports sightings of a Lillian jaywalking, wearing a hoodie and sunglasses, something her own elegant, law-abiding mother would never do. She’d followed her to a decrepit warehouse near the Port of National City. (Why do refugees from justice always seem to hide out in decrepit warehouses?)

“So we’re agreed?” Kara takes Lena’s hand. “Your mom is engaged in anything suspicious, we bring her in.”

“Define suspicious.”

Kara lets out a long breath. “Fine. Anything obviously harmful or violent. Anything less obvious and we’ll monitor her for now.”

“That’s fair.” Lena opens a breach and gives her wife a kiss. Holding hands, they jump through it.

They arrive on the other Earth in an alleyway near the warehouse. Lena’s doppelgänger had described the layout perfectly. They sneak through the back streets, surprised to see the neighborhood improving the closer they get.

Stopping short in front of the building, their jaws drop. It’s no longer decrepit. The windows are clean and the face of the building looks like it’s been re-sided. A crisp banner hangs out front: “HUMAN AND ALIEN RELATIONS.” Lena feels a strange sensation clutch at her heart. Wonder? Pride? Or just plain disbelief. 

Kara gives her an odd look and they ascend the steps. She opens the front door and they peek inside.

The place is swarming with humans and aliens alike. Lena and Kara enter and slowly walk along the perimeter of the hall. A group of toddlers—some with human skin, others with scales or tentacles—enthusiastically listen to a human woman and an alien lady reading a picture book aloud together, trading off doing the funny voices. A few yards away, teens engage in a role-playing exercise, with the aliens and humans each walking in the others’ shoes—literally and figuratively. There’s a lot of laughing and high fiving. And in a quieter area, a bunch of adults take part in what seems to be a nonviolent communication course. 

Lillian, wearing a hideous frizzy wig, stands off to the side, talking with a human and an alien who each hold a clipboard and appear to be coordinators. There’s a bunch of pointing amid the discussion, heads nod, and the two stride away to different areas of the floor. Lillian turns and spies Lena, her eyes lighting up.

Kara places a hand at the small of Lena’s back. “I’ll just, look around some while you go talk to your mom.”

Lena squeezes her wife’s waist and quickly makes her way to Lillian. Up close, she can see her mom has complemented her disguise with blue colored contacts and a long, fake chin hair. (No one would suspect elegant Lillian Luthor of tolerating the presence of a long, obtrusive chin hair.) Her mom notes her gaze and smiles.

“I did first look for an Earth without a previous version of me. Upon not finding one, I realized, with my height and distinctive jawline, I needed an arresting disguise.”

Lena stifles a laugh. She’s here on serious business. Still, she doesn’t want to ignore the good Lillian seems to be doing here. 

“I like what you’ve done with the place.”

Lillian looks around the hall, as if seeing it all for the first time. “I can hardly believe it myself. Your children have changed me.” Apparently she spies Kara somewhere off in the distance, because a sneer snakes its way across her face. “Not _ entirely_, of course.”

Lena gets right to the point. “We need to set some ground rules for visitation.”

Lillian looks at her and smirks. “Would you like the children and I to awaken you when I visit? Or should we try to keep down the volume so you can sleep?”

Lena makes a concerted effort to keep ahold of her temper. “When you _ wish _ to visit them, you will _ contact _ me, using the communication functionality installed in the interdimensional extrapolator you _ stole _ from me.”

Lillian’s smile softens. “As you wish, dear. Will you be participating in these family visits so we can work on our relationship? Or have you enough Lillian Luthor in your life, now that you’re lunching with my doppelgänger on that other Earth?”

Lena stands frozen, her heart pounding. _No._ _How?_ How could her mother have found out about Other Lillian?

Her mother’s face goes blank, like she’s engaged in a poker game where the stakes are not money, but who will hide they care better. “Your extrapolator also has functionality allowing one to revisit one’s last destination. I went exploring. I expected to find a version of myself. I didn’t expect to see you with her. I could tell it was you because of that ghastly undercut.” She smiles again, a bittersweet one. “You looked very happy. Happier than I’ve ever seen you around me.”

Despite knowing she has no reason to feel defensive or ashamed, Lena does. She can’t even look at her mother as she says, “I didn’t seek her out. I was accidentally switched with my doppelgänger, and that Lillian called her phone and reached me. I thought if I went to see her, I might be able to figure out how to get back home. And we just . . . we’ve just developed a relationship.”

There’s an uncomfortable silence, with Lena looking all around her, at all the activities going on, anywhere but at her mother. 

“I don’t blame you, you know. I’m sure she has fewer hang-ups than I do.”

Lena finally looks at her again. “Just because I have a relationship with her, doesn’t mean I don’t also want a better one with you.”

Lillian smiles, but her eyes seem sad. “I would like that. Truly.”

“If you let me know before you wish to see the children, I’ll arrange to be there. And I’ll make sure Kara is otherwise engaged.” Lena can’t help but laugh softly. “That is, until the kids start wondering again why.”

Lillian nods. “I’ll be sure to let you know.”

Someone at the far end of the room starts calling for “Dottie,” and Lillian bows her head. “That’s me. Please excuse me, dear.” She strides away, and Lena watches her go, thinking that if it were Other Lillian here now, she wouldn’t leave Lena without a goodbye hug.

She and her mom were never allowed physical contact at the prison, and here where there’s nothing preventing them, it’s like it’s not even a consideration.

Maybe her mom thinks Lena wouldn’t want her to. Maybe Lena’s been so strident about keeping her walls high so Lillian can’t hurt her anymore, she’s forgotten to leave a ladder off to the side, so her mom knows it’s okay to approach her.

She stands watching her awhile from across the room, all sorts of painful emotions roiling through her stomach and her heart, when there’s a light touch to her shoulder. She turns, and smiles at her wife.

Kara’s fingertips trail down Lena’s side, tickling her, making her giggle despite herself. “I know what will cheer you up. Let’s go surprise our doppelgängers.”

“I’d love to, darling, but it’s Saturday. They’re probably out and about somewhere.”

Kara takes her by the hand. “If we can’t find them, we’ll just hang out in New York on our own.”

Lena tilts her head in agreement. “We haven’t been there together since . . . when? Before Jack was born?”

They make their way toward the exit, and Lena can’t help but notice the way her wife and mother each shoot warning looks at the other. Lillian actually has the nerve to point V-shaped fingers first at her own eyes, then at Kara, and to mouth, _I’m watching you_. Kara indignantly mirrors the gesture, mouthing, _I’m watching YOU._ Lena suppresses a laugh and squeezes her wife’s hand, and then they’re outside in the sunshine. She waits till they’re back in the alley, before yeeting them to Earth-Y.

Materializing behind Other Kara’s garage, the cover of trees keeps them and the blue and silver waves of energy hidden from the neighbors. They peek around the garage. Charlotte, Cat and Minnie lie on the porch, catching some sun and _ ZZZZZZs. _Cat lifts his head off Charlotte’s leg and yawns, showing his sharp teeth, then lays his head back down and squeezes his eyes shut. Minnie twitches in his paws, perhaps dreaming of cheese.

Lena smiles at the serene scene. “Definitely too quiet for the kids to be around.” 

“They could be with the babysitter. I’ll just take a quick peek.” Kara engages her X-ray-vision. “They’re out. But _ wow _ is my doppelgänger going to be disappointed with Punkie and the state of that couch.”

Lena stifles a laugh, not wanting to wake the Other pets and freak them out. Kara suggests they try Other Lena’s apartment next. “I’d love to see where the single, New York version of you would live.”

“She told me she’s hardly ever there anymore.” Lena smirks and kisses her wife. “She’s totally whipped. Spends all her free time with your doppelgänger and the kids.”

“As she _should_.” Kara grins and shrugs. “Let’s go see. If they’re not there we’ll just have to spend some romantic alone time in this city.”

Lena squeezes her wife’s hand and opens a new breach. They jump through it and hear a thunderous yowl—Cat must have woken up and seen them.

_ Sorry to startle you, Harry Potter. _

They materialize onto a quiet side street, onto the basement landing. They creep up the stairs and toward Other Lena’s building—Kara pulls Lena out of sight behind a recycling bin, just in time as her sister’s doppelgänger struts by carrying a heavy box.

She’s followed by Other Lillian, cradling a potted plant in the crook of each arm, and then James Jr., lugging a box just as large and packed as Alex’s, which would be worrisome if the neighbors should happen to see. They all cross the street to the moving van parked on the corner. Other Jess is next, carrying what looks like a framed painting over her head, wrapped up in brown paper. Lena wonders if it’s worth a quarter of a billion dollars, just like the one in her mom’s apartment.

There’s a lot of talking and laughing, and even Other Betty’s helping, marching along behind, ‘directing’ the process. She dutifully stops at the curb instead of crossing on her own, just like an ordinary human child should, and Lena can’t help but feel proud of her for keeping up appearances.

Now Other Lena and Other Kara emerge, hefting the front end of a couch through the doorway, with Elaine and Josh bringing up the rear. Josh makes everyone laugh, yelling, “Pivot! Pivot! Pivot!” 

Lena stifles a laugh—that her doppelgänger’s friends don’t realize Other Kara could lift that sofa with her pinkie finger—as well as a tear, at the thought that Other Lena has such good friends.

Her wife kisses her cheek. “We should get out of here. Leave them to it.” 

Lena nods, and they scuttle away around the corner. She murmurs, “New York-me sure has a lot of stuff. Where the hell are they going to stick that couch?”

Kara scoffs. “In the living room, to replace what remains of my doppelgänger’s couch.”

They’re walking away, hand-in-hand, up the streets of New York City, when Lena muses, “You know, it seems like a million years ago, and at the same time, just like yesterday, when you moved in with me.”

Kara gently bumps her hip against Lena’s. “And you let me keep that little piglet you didn’t really want.”

Lena snorts. “Charlotte was little once? I can barely remember.”

Kara laughs and kisses her. They keep kissing as they walk northward through the city streets. Lena points out important landmarks in Earth-Y’s history. Kara’s tummy rumbles loudly and they stop off for some world famous New York pizza. (Kara suggests they visit _ all _ the New Yorks across the Multiverse, so they can discern for themselves if the pizza is consistently great.)

Eventually they set off again, and soon find themselves at the 59th Street entrance to Central Park. Ambling down the path, Lena has no doubt where they’re headed. 

“So,” says Kara. “This is where it all began.” They approach the Alice sculpture, which, as usual, is host to a swarm of children climbing all over it.

They sit on the nearest bench, tossing glances over at the children climbing the statue in between kisses.

“Great Rao!” Kara stares at the sculpture, and Lena turns her head to see the eyes of the Cheshire Cat glowing a queasy shade of green.

“For the love of God, let’s get out of here.” They jump up and scurry away, looking over their shoulders to see a young woman wearing Crocs they hadn’t noticed before nodding on a bench. The woman suddenly looks up, startled, then darts over to another young lady a few benches away.

This lady shrinks back, but only slightly, and the first woman quickly apologizes. “I thought I knew you.”

Lena bursts into laughter, and Kara smiles. “The Cheshire Cat portal. Serving useless lesbians since”—she uses her telescopic vision to read the commemorative plaque—“1959.”

They walk hand-in-hand down the path leading further into the park, passing a long stretch of grass littered with sprawled-out sunbathers. Finally they get to a more secluded lawn, and Kara gently pulls Lena along with her.

Lena lets out a disappointed sigh. “I didn’t think to bring a blanket.”

“_I_ did.” Kara reaches into her handbag, pulls out one of their favorite blankets, and settles it on the grass. Lena plops down, giggling, but Kara stays standing. She pulls off her shirt to reveal a crop top that shows off her wondrous abs. _ Now _she lies down next to Lena, grinning. “You told me my doppelgänger tried to seduce you that day.”

Lena runs her fingers down Kara’s stomach. “Mmm. I think I deserve a reward for being a very good girl and ignoring temptation.”

They laugh and kiss, and Lena asks, “Didn’t you ever feel tempted to kiss one of my doppelgängers, on your exploits on alternate Earths?”

Kara shakes her head. “They were always different enough from you, it would have been like kissing someone totally new. Someone without all the history you and I share. Besides, I was always there on superhero business. I was never pretending to be some other version of myself, so the other versions of you were never misled.”

Lena nods. “That makes sense.” She thinks a moment. “Can you just imagine, a few different decisions along the way, and you and I might never have met, let alone gotten married and had three kids together.”

Kara giggles. “And ten pets.”

Lena’s eyes widen. “Ten? When did we get a tenth?”

“The goldfish.”

“Oh thank God.” Lena shakes her head, chuckling. “I just flashed back to when you used to come home with a new ball of fur every other week.” They laugh at that, but Lena soon grows somber. She looks into her wife’s eyes. “Darling. As crazy as our lives are, I would do everything exactly the same again, if it came to that.”

Kara tilts her head. “Really? Everything?”

“Wouldn’t you?”

Kara thinks a moment. “_Almost_ everything. I would make it so Minnie and Harry Potter never died.”

Lena bites her lip, considering. “Yes, but then Minerva never would have come into our lives.”

Kara looks down at the blanket, a thoughtful, sad look on her face.

Lena caresses Kara’s cheek. “Everyone dies, sweetheart. I know we don’t like to talk about it, but I’m going to die someday, too.”

Kara leans forward to rest her forehead against Lena’s. “Not for a long, long time yet.”

Lena sighs. She hates to talk about it, but her wife hates it more, and so it’s up to her to do so every now and again. “And when that happens, I want you to find someone else. When the time is right. When you’re ready.”

Kara stubbornly, slowly shakes her head, gently moving Lena’s along with her. “Not going to happen.”

“Kara—”

“I’ve already had the best wife in the entire Multiverse. I won’t want anyone else. _Ever._”

Lena can’t help but smile, and Kara withdraws just an inch, lifting her gaze and tilting Lena’s head so they can look into each other’s eyes. “I’ll be content just to wait till I see you again.”

Kara kisses her softly, once, twice, three times, then pulls back with a smile. “No more unhappy thoughts! We’re all alone in this romantic city, the kids are with Alex and Maggie, our doppelgängers are busy, no one needs my help, and—”

She suddenly turns her head and concentrates off in the distance. She sighs. “Shoot. Someone _ does _ need my help. Sorry, babe. I’ll be back as soon as I can.” She stands, grabbing her handbag containing her Super suit off the blanket. Her head whips around and she looks off into the distance again, then sighs contentedly and drops back down onto the blanket. “False alarm, Stupendousgirl’s got this. Don’t want to go, too, and confuse the denizens of this Earth. Imagine if people saw _ two _ Supergirls?”

Lena smiles. “Or, two _Stupendous_girls.”

Kara giggles. “Imagine if Miss Grant _ had _ named me Stupendousgirl?”

Lena reaches out to tickle her wife. “Well, darling, you _ are _ stupendous, so . . .”

A wicked grin makes its way across Kara’s face. “I’ll show you how _stupendous_ I can be . . .” She reaches for Lena again.

Lena flushes, but only half from excitement. She looks all around them. “Darling, we’re in public.”

Kara reaches into her huge handbag . . . and takes out a second blanket. “Not for long.” She throws it over them both and reaches for Lena again underneath it. 

Lena gasps as Kara’s fingers caress her in just the right place. “You are _shameless_—”

“Ooh, Shamelessgirl, I like it.”

And as they kiss—and more—in the middle of the park, under a great big blue sky that matches her wife’s eyes, Lena’s so grateful that out of all the Kara Danverses on all the infinite Earths, this one is hers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!


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